FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS 

; 1 - 



FOR THE HELP OF THE 



CHRISTIAN TRAVELLER. 



BY JOSEPH WALTON. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

AT FRIENDS' BOOK STORE, 304 ARCH STREET. 
1894. 



3*< 




PHILADELPHIA". 

WM. H. PILE'S SONS, PAINTERS, 

422 WALNUT STREET. 



PREFACE. 



The present volume is very similar in its general character 
and purpose to "Incidents and Reflections" published a few 
years since. 

It is mainly composed of anecdotes which illustrate dif- 
ferent forms of religious and moral truth, and as it contains 
many records of the experience of others, it may appropri- 
ately be called "Footprints and Waymarks." 

It is the desire of the compiler, that the Divine blessing 
may so accompany it, as to make it useful to its readers in 
encouraging them in good resolutions, and in leading them to 
look to the Lord for help in walking in the way cast up for 
the ransomed and redeemed, and which alone leads to ever- 
lasting peace. 

We have a sure guide in our journey to Heaven in the 
light which comes from Christ, and shows to man what is 
evil and what is good. Our Saviour has said: "I am the 
light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in 
darkness, but shall have the light of life." 

With some caution as to using such solemn language, I 
give to my readers the salutation of Paul to the Corinthians: 
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, 
and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTEE I. 

DIVINE COMMUNION. 

PAGE 

Divine Communion, a universal experience of Christians, J. 
M. Whitall—" Don't Strike"— The Tiger Jungle— J. G. 
Paton in the New Hebrides — " He that dwelleth in the 
secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow 
of the Almighty" — Hudson Taylor — Special Providences 
— Stephen Grellet — Alfred Roberts — Universality of Divine 
Light — Divine Grace in poor slave girl — In African Chief — 
Stephen Grellet's testimonies — Israel D. Titus — David 
Sands— Ministry of the Gospel, 9 



CHAPTEE II. 

PRAYER. 

The man financially embarrassed — The sick girl — A real 
prayer — Martha Routh at sea — The poor Friend — The flan- 
nel skirt — Wood and candles — Widows in want — The flood- 
ed hamlet — The prisoner at Glatz — " Pray and pump" — 
The kidnapped children — The Indian hunter — " Pray with- 
out ceasing" — Anna Shipton — An Atheist taught to pray — 
Scottish covenanters — Richard Hulley — "God is our refuge" 
— The Indian and the fish — A refuge in the fog — Missiona- 
ries and pirates — Anna Shipton's illustrations — Lavater — 
Pleadings vs. prayers — "Hold the train," ... 74 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

DIVINE PROTECTION. 

PAGE 

Divine Protection — Governor of Tasmania — Widow Vance — 
The tray of oysters — Richard Cradock's granddaughter — 
James Dickinson's preservation— Preservation from robbers 
— Saved from a burning vessel — Saved from lions — C. H. 
Spurgeon — Deacon Pollard — Richard Gush — Adam Clark 
— Richard Cecil — The bankrupt merchant — The farmer in 
trouble — The missionary as peace agent — Joseph Wiley — 
Robert Turnbull — Stephen Grellet — Preserved from hostile 
Indians — Bag of meal — The gift of four friends — John Rob- 
erts — Refusing to sell corn to distillers — Richard Davies — 
A remarkable awakening — Man in wardrobe — Henrique 
Buche— Anthony Hunt, 129 



CHAPTER IV. 

CONVERSION. 

Stephen Grellet — Ann Branson — Joseph Pike— Wm. Dews- 
bury — Thomas Wilson — John Churchman — Maria Hall 
— Elizabeth Wing — John S. Stokes — Job Scott — Holy Spirit 
among the Kaffirs — Edward Wright — " Ye are not your 
own" — The Dutch painter — Effect of a tract — Effect of a 
judicious conversation — Peter Yarnall— Frederick C. Browne 
— The robber's auction — The Georgia farmer — Women cru- 
saders — " Behold the Lamb of God" — Samuel Cope on the 
steamboat — Gilmore Marston — Jane Dunning — " The 
wicked flee when no man pursueth" — No. 68 — Convinced 
by an old blind woman — The file grinder — John Browning 
— Jacob Ritter — A deist converted — Revival at Great Falls 
— Samuel Fay — " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from 
all sin" — Florida pirate— Mitchell K's prayer— The "dumb 
sermon" — "Say your prayers in fair weather" — David 
Sands, 216 



CONTENTS. VII 

CHAPTEE V. 

EFFECTS OF REGENERATION. 

PAGE 

Christian Eddy— S. Grellet— W. Evans— G. Fox— Preaching 
by faith — A view of religious services — Perils— Edward 
"Wright — " He first loved us" — Subdued by kindness — 
Helping others — Dorothea L. Dix— Abram Simmons — 
Cyrus Butler— Thomas Blagden— Dr. Pinel— William Tuke, 289 

CHAPTEE VI. 

CHRISTIAN FRUITS. 

S. Grellet's experiences — Testimonies against war — Joseph 
Hoag — True courage — Self sacrifice — " I might have saved 
one more" — The cattle train— The power of kindness — The 
sick baby, 332 

CHAPTER VII. 

1DENYING WORLDLY LUSTS. 

Tobacco— Edward Wright — John B. Gough — Loveday Hen- 
wood — The pint of ale — Enough to do without dancing — 
Neal Dow — Samuel Hobart— Breaking the jug — The vil- 
lage tavern — David Ferris — A sad group — The wise fish- 
erman — Gambling — The forging broker— Temptations re- 
sisted — J. G. Paton in Aniwa — William Taylor on the ' 
universality of Divine love — Deaf and dumb missionary — 
Elizabeth Fry on fashionable amusements — J. B. Gough on 
the theatre— The converted actor, 360 

CHAPTEE VIII. 

FAITHFULNESS. 

Prisoners at Aberdeen — Gilbert Latey — Little Scotch granite 
— Matthew Hale — Archbishop Ussher — An honest job — 
William Williams' testimony— "Seek religion now" — An 
awful end — Henri Heine — The infidel lecturer— Daniel 
Wheeler, 397 



Vlll CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

"Going up or down?" — Electric light — The wounded ducks 
— Brahmin and the Miscroscope— Evil imagination — The 
Bulgarian student— Instructive hints — Choosing — Lady sun- 
shine — Settling differences — Daily duties — The skeptic's 
creed — Poor Xancy — "Is my case ready?" — Trying to save 
too much— Blessing of adversity— Faith in the pilot, . . 418 

CHAPTER X. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

The bridge— Good for evil — Too rich— Faith and works- 
Confession and restitution — A cure for moths — Mary's house 
— Reproof— Wearing earrings — Silent reproof — The swear- 
er's prayer — Wedgewood's rebuke — Inconsistency — Earnest- 
ness — Courage— G. Whitehead — Elisha Tyson — Thomas 
Shipley— Mingo— " Rain from the earth," . . . 445 



Footprints and Waymarks. 



CHAPTER I. 

DIVINE COMMUNION. 

Divine Communion, a universal experience of Christians, J. M. 
Whitall— " Don't Strike"— The Tiger Jungle— J. G. Paton in 
the New Hebrides—" He that dwelleth in the secret place of 
the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" 
— Hudson Taylor — Special Providences — Stephen Grellet — Al- 
fred Roberts — Universality of Divine Light — Divine Grace in 
poor slave girl — In African Chief— Stephen Grellet's testimonies 
— Israel D. Titus — David Sands — Ministry of the Gospel. 

In the one hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm, David 
queries with the Almighty, "Whither shall I go from 
thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the 
uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand 
lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." Precious 
indeed is this sense of the Divine Presence to him 
whose chief object in life is to be found living in har- 
mony and communion with his Maker ! He knows 
that the Lord is a friend, who sticketh closer than any 
brother: and that like as a father pitieth his children, 
so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him ; and that such 
"He crowneth with loving kindness and tender mer- 
cies;" and that those who abide under the shadow of 
the Almighty, He will deliver in time of trouble. That 



10 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

the Lord holds perceptible communion with his ser- 
vants, showing them what He would have them to do, 
guiding, reproving, and comforting them, is so uni- 
versal an experience with his devoted followers, and so 
precious a truth, that it may be said to lie at the foun- 
dation of practical religion, and is illustrated by almost 
every relation of spiritual experience. 

The blessedness of Divine communion and of trusting 
to that guidance which the Lord graciously bestows on 
his obedient and trusting children is exemplified in the 
experience of the late John M. Whitall, of Philadelphia. 
In early life he was a mariner, sailing principally be- 
tween Philadelphia and the East Indies. During a 
return voyage from Calcutta, he was promoted to be 
second mate. After his arrival at Philadelphia, he 
says :— - 

I felt best satisfied not to sail again in the same ship, 
and was therefore at home and out of employment for 
some time. As something to do was very important, 
of course the thought of remaining idle was by no 
means comfortable. This uncertainty continued about 
two months, when one morning at my father's house, 
I felt drawn to pra} T again to God that He would find 
me employment; and while on my knees, a carriage 
drove up with a kind messenger informing me that 
the ship "Dorothea" needed a first mate for a voyage 
to China, and that I was wanted for the position. 
Thus my prayer was answered, reminding of Daniel : 
"At the beginning of thy supplication the command- 
ment went forth." I immediately went to the city and 
joined the vessel as chief mate. 

While on the "Dorothea," he met with a spiritual 
experience which he thus records: — 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 11 

In the early part of 1823, during our homeward 
voyage from Canton, I one day sat down alone to wait 
upon the Lord, and I felt such a baptizing sense of his 
holy presence, and so much and so strong a belief that 
this silent waiting was owned of the Lord, and was the 
way to find and know Him, that it has been my prac- 
tice ever since, oftener than the returning day to ob- 
serve a season of thus waiting upon Him. And blessed 
be his Holy Name, often in seasons of trial has He 
helped me and lifted up the blessed light of his counte- 
nance upon me, and greatly encouraged me to wait 
upon, trust in and love Him with my whole heart. 

During this voyage, while our ship was in the port 
of Gibraltar, the second mate carelessly let the anchor 
chain run overboard, so that the anchor with forty-five 
fathoms of chain lay at the bottom of the harbor in 
twelve fathoms of water, or about seventy -two feet 
deep. This was a new experience. How to recover 
the lost anchor was a question. There was one re- 
source with which I was pretty well acquainted, and 
I laid the matter before the Lord. He showed me how 
to find the lost anchor, and gave me an assurance that 
we should succeed. Having, when we anchored the 
ship, noted the position, which was my practice, we 
had no difficulty in telling where the anchor lay ; and 
following the directions given me by the Lord, we 
soon recovered our anchor and chain, greatly to my 
relief and joy. 

J. M. Whitall was a man of business ability, and 
understood well the art of navigating and handling 
a ship, but it is instructive to see, as it is shown in the 
above extract, how he looked to the Lord for counsel 
and help, instead of trusting to his own unaided powers. 
With how much greater comfort and courage could he 
undertake the duties that devolved upon him, when he 



12 FOOTPRINTS AND WATMAKKS. 

felt an inward assurance from the Lord, that success 
would crown his efforts ! 

After leaving the " Dorothea," he made two voyages 
in the "America :" — " Upon returning from my second 
voyage in this ship," he says, " I felt that it would be 
best for me to leave her. It was a great trial, as both 
captain and owner were very desirous to retain me ; 
but on consulting my Heavenly Father my mind was 
fully settled that it would be right to decline going in 
that ship. The result proved the value of consulting 
best direction, for she went around Cape Horn, and 
was absent for two years, making quite a disastrous 
voyage for all concerned. Thus I was kept by a kind 
Providence from participating in that trouble. And 
through life, I have found asking my Heavenly Father's 
direction in all important matters, of the greatest bene- 
fit to me ; and never when I needed it and earnestly 
sought it, have I been disappointed." 

In 1824, he was made Captain of an Indiaman, and 
at that time the largest ship in the port of Philadelphia. 
He remarks, " it is not worth while to say I was not 
greatly gratified and pleased, for I had now reached 
the summit of my ambition as a sailor." 

"After the command had been conferred on me, some 
Friends for whom I had great esteem, were very much 
concerned lest I should lose my right of membership 
in the Society [of Friends], in consequence of being 
master of an Indiaman, which would have to pass 
through seas infested by pirates, thereby making it 
probable that arms would have to be used in defence. 
This of course brought me into great trouble of mind. 
But according to my usual practice in all straits, I laid 
the matter before my Heavenly Father, who, in un- 
utterable mere}' and kindness, gave me to see that 
I might go as captain in the ship, and that no arms 
would have to be used." 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMAKKS. 13 

This assurance was verified by the result. On Fourth 
Month 29th, 1825, he records: — "In the China seas, 
clear of the Straits of Banca, the place where we feared 
being attacked by pirates. Oh, how thankful I desire 
to be for the Lord's goodness and mercy unto me, who 
am so unworthy, in giving me wisdom and judgment 
in conducting the ship !" 

H. B. Sevey in Word's Crises relates the following 
interesting incident : — 

While laboring not long since in the State of Maine, 
a Christian brother on whom I called, related the fol- 
lowing incident : He said that once, when engaged in 
the forest felling trees, a large tree in falling lodged 
upon another tree, and in order to get the first one 
down he went in another direction, and felled a second 
tree, hoping that this, falling upon the first one, would 
carry it to the ground. In this he was disappointed, 
as the second tree also became entangled, and lodged 
in the branches of the other, so that they hung there 
together. 

After looking the case over, he concluded that his 
best course was to climb up on the second tree, and 
cut it off near where it crossed the first, stepping on 
to the first tree when he was through cutting, and 
allowing the top of the second tree to fall over on one 
side of the tree and the trunk drop to the ground on 
the other side. 

Accordingly he ascended the tree and commenced 
chopping. After cutting the log nearly off, as he raised 
his axe to strike another blow he heard a voice say 
distinctly, "Don't strike!" He stopped, lowered his 
axe, and looking around, to see who had spoken to 
him; and seeing no one near he again raised his axe 
to strike, and again heard the same words, " Don't 
strike !" Once more he lowered his axe, hesitated and 



„ 



14 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

looked around, vainly seeking to ascertain the source 
of the interruption. After a short delay during which 
he glanced carefully at the situation and concluded that 
everything was safe, he raised his axe again to strike 
a final blow, when his ear was startled with that same 
voice, saying, "Don't strike !" 

He was impressed by the strange occurrence, and 
thinking there might be some meaning to it, he imme- 
diate!}' turned and walked down the trunk of the tree 
on which he stood. As he stepped from the butt of 
the tree to the ground, to his surprise the tree broke in 
two where he had been chopping. The trunk fell to 
the ground, as he had anticipated, and the top, which 
he had supposed would surely fall over on the other 
side of the tree on which it had lodged, instead of doino; 
so turned back and with all its great branches, came 
down with a mighty crash on the very spot where he 
would hare stood, had he disregarded the warning given. 
Had he struck that one more blow it would have been 
his last ; for he must have been instantly crushed be- 
neath the tree top as it fell. 

A very interesting case of Divine intervention in a 
situation of extreme peril, is that related by Jacob 
Chamberlain, a missionary in India, who wrote out 
for the New York Independent an account of a remark- 
able deliverance he met with in the Ninth Month of 
1863. It is headed " In the Tiger Jungle, Does God 
Hear Prayer ? " He says : — 

I was taking a long exploring, preaching and Bible- 
distributing journey up through the Native Kingdom 
of Hyderabad, where no missionary had ever before 
worked. It was a journey of twelve hundred miles, on 
horseback, of four to five months, and through a region 
little known and difficult to traverse, and, by many, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 15 

regarded as exceedingly dangerous. I was accom- 
panied by four native assistants, picked men from the 
larger number who had volunteered to be my com- 
panions. We took with us two cartloads of Scriptures, 
Gospels, New Testaments and Bibles, and tracts, in the 
five languages we would meet, and which could be used 
by some of our party, for each one of us could preach 
in three. 

We had already been out two and a half months. 
My sturdy Saugur pony had carried me seven hundred 
miles, and we had already distributed, chiefly by sales, 
seven thousand Scriptures and books. 

Of the clangers promised us we had experienced 
some. In one city, indeed, we had seen the mob, 
angry because we preached another God than theirs, 
swing to the iron gates, shutting us within, and tear 
up the paving-stones to stone us with ; but, by an arti- 
fice, obtaining permission to tell them just one story 
before they should begin the stoning, I told the story 
of the Cross, in the graphic language that God himself 
gave me that clay, and the mob became an absorbed 
audience, down the cheeks of many a member of which 
I saw the tears trickle, as I pictured Christ upon the 
cross, in agony for us, that we all might be freed from 
sin, and the stones were thrown in the gutter, and 
when I had clone, they bought and paid for eighty 
Gospels and tracts, to tell them more of that wonderful 
God-man, of whom they then first heard. 

We had, indeed, been washed away by a flood, my 
pony and I being whelmed under by a tropical torrent 
that rolled swiftly down a fordable river, as we were 
in the middle of it, crossing ; but we had all succeeded 
in swimming to the same bank. 

We had, indeed, been kept awake through the night, 
more than once, by the roaring of the man-eating tigers 
around our camp in the jungle, as we heaped wood and 
brush upon our camp fires all night long, lest there be no 



16 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

one to tell the tale in the morning; and we had passed 
through a jungle where three men had been carried 
off* by tigers from the same cart track in broad day- 
light, just a few days before. 

We had now, however, come to the greatest strait in 
our journey. We had reached our farthest northern 
point, up among the Mountain Gonds, or Khonds, who 
for centuries had offered human sacrifices, and, after 
telling them of the one and all-sufficient sacrifice for 
sin, by Jesus Christ, had turned to the east and south, on 
our return journey, by another route. We were to find 
a Government steamer when we struck the Pranhita 
River, an affluent of the great Godavery. The Govern- 
ment were then endeavoring to open up those rivers to 
navigation, and had succeeded in placing one steamer 
on the river above the second cataract, to run up to 
the third. The Government officers in charge of the 
works, having heard, months before, of my proposed 
journey, had offered to send that steamer up to the 
third cataract on any date I would name, if I would 
but take the journey, and transport myself and party 
rapidly through that stretch of fever jungle, which was 
deadly at this season of the year. I had named the 
date, and received assurance that we could depend on 
the steamer being there. We timed our journey, and 
struck the upper river at the date named. Xo steamer 
was there. The heavy torrents of the monsoon had 
come on unexpectedly early and unprecedently severe. 
The Godavery became three miles wide, of tumultuous 
waters. Village after village on its shores was swept 
away. We watched on the banks for a week. A mes- 
senger then succeeded in getting through to tell us 
that the steamer, in attempting to stem that fierce cur- 
rent, to come up to us, had broken its machinery and 
could not get to us. We must, then, march through 
that seventy-five miles of doomed jungle, to reach the 
next steamer, which was to meet us at the foot of the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 17 

second cataract, and take us down to the first, and 
another on. 

The Government Commissioner of the Central Prov- 
inces at Sironcha (for the north bank of the Godavery 
is under British rule), kindly came to our relief, and 
detaching thirty-six coolies from the Government works, 
ordered them, with an armed guard, to keep them from 
deserting, to convey Our tents, baggage, medicine chests, 
and remaining books, down to the foot of the second 
cataract; and we started on. 

I need not stop to recount the exciting episode of our 
desertion, on the north bank of the Godavery, with no 
human habitation anywhere near, by the whole party 
of coolies, armed guard and all, nor of our desperate 
efforts, finally successful, to cross the Godavery's three 
miles flood, in order that we might reach a large town 
of the Nizam's Dominions, the headquarters of a high 
native official, a sort of deputy governor, of whom 
I hoped to obtain help. 

Forcing my wiry pony through the three miles of 
flooded marsh that lay between the river and the town, 
I appeared at the door of this magnate, and politely 
presented my appeal to him for coolies to take my party 
down his side of the river, to the second cataract. He, 
as politely, told me that it was an utter impossibility ; 
that at this season of the year, with the fever so deadly 
and the man-eating tigers so ravenous, now that the 
herdsmen had taken their flocks and herds away to the 
healthier highlands over the fever season, so that they 
had no flocks to prey upon ; and the floods and back- 
waters from the river damming the way, no coolies 
could be induced to go through. 

I told him that I must, in some way, get down to the 
second cataract; that the steamer that was to come for 
us had broken down, and that I must have the coolies. 
I took from my pocket, and slowly unrolled a long 
parchment paper document, a hookam, or firman from 
2 



18 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

the Nizam, which the British Minister at that court 
had kindly pressed upon me, as I had tarried a few days 
at the capital of the kingdom, in passing, saying that, 
though I had not asked it, he would sleep better if he 
knew I had it in my possession ; for I knew not what 
I would pass through nor how much I would need it. 
I had not thus far opened it. The need had now come. 
In it the Nizam, at the request of the British Minister, 
had not only authorized my journey, but ordered any 
of his officials, of whatever rank, to render any assist- 
ance I should call for, either in the way of protection, 
transportation, or supplies, at the shortest notice, and 
under the highest penalties for non-performance. The 
moment he saw the great royal seal his whole appear- 
ance changed, and, shouting in imperious tones to his 
belted and armed attendants, he ordered them to run 
with all speed, each to one of the surrounding villages, 
and bring in, by force if necessary, the quota of bear- 
ers which each village was bound to furnish for a royal 
progress, or for a journey thus authorized. 

I had called for forty-four stalwart men, for I felt 
sure that more than my original thirty-six would be 
needed before we reached the next steamer. In an 
incredibly short time the forty-four bearers appeared. 
They went at once down to the river and brought up 
all our goods, and with them came the native preach- 
ers. They placed the goods in front of the magnate's 
house. I made a harangue to them as they stood in 
a row, each man by his burden, telling them I was 
sorry to be obliged to compel them to go through the 
jungle at such a time, or to go ourselves, but that we 
must go ; that to show them that I meant to treat them 
well, I should now give each one, in advance, as much 
hire as he had ever received for going through to the 
cataract, and that, on reaching there, I should pay each 
one twice as much more, in view of the extra risk 
they ran. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 19 

Asking the magistrate what the highest pay was, 
I placed that sum, in the Nizam's coinage, myself in 
the hands of each man, with the magistrate as witness, 
and, when each of the forty-four had grasped it in his 
palm, I told them that now they were sealed to accom- 
pany me through; that any one who attempted to 
desert me would bring the consequences on his own 
head. The magistrate also harangued them and told 
them that travelling under such authorization as this 
gentleman was, they would each be publicly whipped 
and put in jail if they appeared back at their homes 
without a line from me that they had taken me 
through. 

To make still more sure, I had separated them into 
four squads of eleven men each, ordering each squad 
to march in a compact body, and placing one of the 
native preachers in charge of each party, to march with 
them and watch them, and give me instant signal if 
any one put down his burden, except at my command. 
The two royal guides of the region had been ordered 
to guide us through, and promised a high reward, and 
had sworn faithfulness. 

We struck into the jungle. We had to go single 
file. Footpaths there had been, but now choked and 
grown over from the long rains. The second senior 
native preacher went with the first eleven ; the senior 
preacher at the rear of the last party. The pouring 
rain would drench us for a half hour, and then the sun, 
blazing forth between the sundered clouds, would broil 
us. The country was flooded and reeking ; the bushes 
were loaded and dripping. Get through we must, or 
the steamer at the second cataract might not wait for 
us, and we would have to march through another fever 
stretch. 

But now a new, and seemingly insurmountable diffi- 
culty confronted us. The dark jungle, the rain, the 
fever, the tigers, had been taken into account ; but in 



20 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

spite of them we had determined to push through and 
reach the second cataract before the Sunday. But dif- 
ficulties breed. "We now met two fleet-footed, daring 
huntsmen, who had been down to a point two miles 
beyond, to inspect their traps, and were on the full run 
back to shelter for the night. Swift and sure of foot, 
with no impediment, they could, before dark, make 
the last village we had passed as we entered the jungle 
in the morning. 

We halted them to inquire of the region ahead. We 
knew that some two miles in front was an affluent of 
the Godavery, which ran down from the bluffs to our 
right, and which we had expected to ford, and pitch 
our camp for the night on an open knoll a little distance 
beyond it, where, with bright camp-fires and watchful- 
ness, we could pass the night in comparative safety. 
But from these hunters we learned that the back-water 
of the Godavery flood, which was thirty feet higher 
than usual, had made these streams absolutely un- 
fordable. 

"Was there no boat?" 

"None." 

"No material for a raft?" 

"None whatever." 

And on the hunters dashed for safety. The two 
royal guides and I had called them apart, alone, and 
questioned them. The guides knew the country well, 
but this unprecedently high back-water was entirely 
unexpected, and they seemed dazed by the news. The 
party kept plodding on. We were marching about a 
mile to the south of the Godavery and parallel with it. 
Two miles further south were the high bluffs; but 
with dense, impenetrable, thorny rattan jungle between 
us and them. The country between river and bluff 
was flat and flooded. 

We knew of only this one knoll beyond this affluent 
where we could encamp. Ten miles beyond it again 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 21 

was another affluent; but that would be flooded as 
much as this. Still, could we not in some way get 
across this one and secure safety for one night? 

" Guides ! If we press on to this little river can we 
not make a raft of some kind and get over before 
dark?" 

"Alas ! there are no dry trees," they said, " and these 
green jungle trees will sink of themselves in the water, 
even if there were time to fell them." 

This I knew to be true. 

" Is there no knoll on this side that we can pitch 
on?" 

"!N~o, from the river to bluff it is all like this." 

We were standing in wet and mud as we talked. 
"Keep marching on. I will consider what to do." 

I drew back and rode behind the marching column. 
The native preachers had partly overheard the state- 
ment about the cross river being uncrossable. From 
my countenance, as I fell back, they gathered that we 
were in straits. They knew that in an hour it would 
be sunset. Dense clouds even now made it seem grow- 
ing dark. Already could we hear the occasional fierce, 
hungry rqar of the tigers in the rattan jungle at our 
right. I said not a word to my assistants, but I spoke 
to God. As my horse tramped on in the marshy path, 
my heart went up and claimed the promised presence. 
" Master ! Was it not for thy sake that we came here ! 
Did we not covenant with thee for the journey through ? 
Have we not faithfully preached thy name the whole 
long way ? Have we shirked any danger, have we 
quailed before any foe ? Didst thou not promise ' I will 
be with you V Now we need thee. We are in blackest 
danger for this night. Only thou canst save us from 
this jungle, these tigers, this flood. O Master ! Mas- 
ter ! show me what to do." 

An answer came ; not audible, but distinct as though 
spoken in my ear by human voice : " Turn to the left, 



22 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

to the Godavery, and you will find rescue." Riding 
rapidly forward, I overtook the guides. " How far is 
it to the Godavery ?" 

"A good mile." 

" Is there no village on its bank ? " 

"No, none within many miles; and the banks are 
all overflowed." 

" Is there no mound, nor rising ground on which we 
could camp, out of this water?" 

" It is all low and flat like this." 

I drew apart, and prayed again, as we still plodded 
on. Again came the answer : " Turn to the left, to the 
Godavery, and you will find rescue." Again I called 
the guides and questioned them. "Are you sure there 
is no rising ground by the river, where we can pitch, 
with the river on one side for protection, and camp 
fires around us, on the other, through the night ? " 

"None, whatever." 

" Think well. Is there no dry timber, of which we 
could make a raft?" 

" If there were any it would all be washed away by 
these floods." 

" Is there no boat, of any sort on the river ? I have 
authority to seize anything I need." 

" None nearer than the cataract." 

" How long would it take us to reach the Godavery 
by the nearest path ?" 

"Half an hour; but it would be so much time lost, 
for we would have to come back here and cut our way 
through this jungle to the bluff, and climb that. There 
is no other Avay of getting around these two flooded 
streams that we must pass to reach the cataract." 

" How long would it take to cut our way through to 
the bluff?" " 

"At least six hours, and it will be dark in an hour." 

"What shall we do for to-night?" 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 23 

"God knows," and they looked the despair that they 
felt. 

I drew aside again, and prayed, as I rode on. "Turn 
to the left, to the Godavery, and you will find rescue," 
came the response the third time. It was not audible. 
None of those near heard it, I cannot explain it, but 
to me it was as distinct as though spoken by a voice 
in my ear. It thrilled me. " God's answer to my 
prayer," said I. "I cannot doubt, I must act, and that 
instantly." 

Hastening forward to the guides, at the head of the 
column, " Halt!" said I, in a voice to be heard by all. 
" Turn sharp to the left. Guides, show us the shortest 
way to the Godavery. Quick!" They remonstrated 
stoutly ; that it was only labor lost, but that we should 
be in a worse plight there than here, for the river might 
rise higher and wash us away in the darkness of the 
night, " Obey !" said I. " March sharp, or night will 
come. I am master here, and intend to be obeyed. 
Show the way to the river." 

All the party had surrounded me. My native 
preachers looked up inquiringly at my awed face. 
" There is rescue at the river," was all I said. How 
could I say more? Providentially, we had just come to 
where an old path led at right angles to our former 
course, and directly toward the river, and down that 
path we went. The step of all was quicker than before. 
" The Dhora has heard of some help at the river," I 
overheard the coolies say to one another. I had heard 
of help ; but what it was I knew not. My anxiety 
seemed to have gone. There was an intense state of 
expectancy in its place. Half a mile from the river 
I spurred forward past the guides. I knew the coolies 
would not desert me now. There was no place of 
safety they could reach for the night. They would 
cling around me for protection. 

I cantered out from among the bushes to the bank, 



24 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMAEKS. 

keenly observant. There, right under my feet, was 
a large flat-boat, tied to a tree at the shore, with two 
men upon it trying to keep it afloat in the rising and 
falling current. 
, " How did this boat get here ?" said I. 

" Oh, sir, don't be angry with us," said the boatmen, 
taking me to be an officer of the British India Govern- 
ment, to whom the boat belonged, and thinking I Avas 
taking them to task for not keeping the boat on its 
proper station ; " we tried our best to keep the boat 
from coming here ; but, sir, it seemed as though it was 
possessed. This morning we were on our station, on 
the upper river, caring for the boat as usual, when 
a huge rolling wave came rushing down the river and 
snapped the cables and swept the boat into the current. 
We did our utmost to get it back to that bank of the 
river, but it would go further and further out into the 
current. The more we pulled for the British bank, 
the more it would work over toward the Nizam's. 
We have fought all day to keep it from coming here, 
but it seemed as though a supernatural power was 
shoving the boat over, and an hour ago Ave gave up 
and let it float in here and tied it up for safety to this 
tree. Don't be angry, sir; as soon as the river goes 
down, or gets smooth, Ave Avill get the boat back where 
| it belongs. Don't have us punished for letting it come 
here. We could not help it." 

"All right, my men," said I; "I take command of 
this boat. I have authority to use any Government 
property I require on this journey. I shall use the boat 
and reward you well, and give you a letter to your 
superior that Avill clear you of all blame." 

The boat, a large flat-boat, with strong railings along 
both sides, and square ends to run upon the shore, had 
been built by the British military authorities in the 
troublous times folloAA'ing the mutiny in those regions, 
and placed on an affluent of the Godavery, higher up, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 25 

on the north bank, to ferry artillery and elephants 
across in their punitive expeditions; and it was still 
kept there. These men were paid monthly wages to 
keep it always ready, at its station, in case of sudden 
need. 

Who had ordered that tidal wave in the morning of 
that clay that had torn it from its moorings and driven 
it so many miles down the river ; that had thwarted 
every endeavor of the frightened boatmen to force it 
to the north shore, and had brought it to the little 
cove-like recess, just where we would strike the river? 
Who but He on whose orders we had come ? He who 
had said : " I will be with you ; " He who knew be- 
forehand the dire straits in which we would be, in that 
very place, on that very day, that very hour, He who 
had told us so distinctly : " Turn to the left, to the 
Godavery, and you will find rescue ? " I bowed my 
head, and, in amazed reverence, I thanked my God for 
this signal answer to our pleading prayer. 

The guides now came in sight through the bushes, 
with all the party following, and looked dazed as they 
saw me quietly arranging to put our whole party on 
the boat for the night ; and I heard some say to others : 
" How did the Dhora know of this boat being here, 
and come right out on to it? None of us knew of it." 
To my native preachers I simply said : " God heard 
our prayers, and this is the answer ; " for I knew that 
they had been praying on foot while I was praying on 
horseback. " Yes," said they, reverently, " He has 
heard our prayer, and delivered us. We will never 
doubt Him again." 

We pitched our raoti, or long, low, soldier's tent \ 
upon the boat. It exactly covered it, so that we tied 
the eaves of the tent to the railings of the boat, and 
made a tight house and a secure abode for the night, 
and within it the whole party were able to gather, 
with all the baggage. Before dark all hands had 



26 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMABKS. 

gathered a sufficiency of wood and brush to keep a 
bright camp fire burning through the night on the 
shore, at the end of the boat. It had not rained for the 
last hour and a half before we reached the boat, nor 
did it begin again until we were all safely housed on 
the boat and the camp-fire well burning, with such 
large logs well on fire that it burned on, with replen- 
ishing, in spite of the rain through the night ; and it 
was well that it did, for the tigers had scented us and 
were eager for prey. The tent was large enough for 
lis all if we sat up, but not to lie down in ; and I sat 
watching at the shore end of the boat, pistol in hand, 
through the night, lest, in spite of the fire, a tiger 
should try to spring on. We heard their roaring and 
snarling in the bushes near at hand, and once I fancied 
I saw the glaring eyes of a royal tiger peering at us 
between the two nearest bushes. But " He shall give 
his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
ways," was the thought that kept running through my 
mind after we had, as we settled down for the night, 
read the ninety-first Psalm in the beautiful Telugu 
language, and offered up prayers of thanksgiving and 
praise to the Most High, under the shadow of whose 
wings we were abiding"! 

At the dawn of day, taking down our tent, we shoved 
out into the stream, and floated down twelve miles, 
past both affluent streams, that were too high for us to 
ford, and until the roaring of the cataract warned us 
that we were just coming into the rapids: and there 
we moored the boat, and left it, that the coolies, after 
they should have taken us to the foot of the barrier, 
might come back, and, in it, go up again past those 
rivers, and so reach their home. 

Of our twenty miles further march, around the cata- 
ract and rapids, in the alternating blazing sun and 
drenching rain, when one after another of my native 
assistants fell under that terrible jungle fever, and each, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 27 

in a state of unconsciousness, was tied in a blanket to 
a bamboo, and thus borne onward by the extra coolies 
that I had provided for just such an emergency, while 
twice I almost fell from my horse from the power of 
the blistering sun between the rains, but in answer to 
prayer received strength to mount again and proceed, 
myself leading the party; of our reaching the river 
again, and the coolies' joy at receiving their promised 
triple pay, and bounding off for the boat and home ; 
of the smoke of the coming steamer at last appearing 
over the trees lining the river, after we had been wait- 
ing in that fever bed for a week ; of it and another car- 
rying us down two hundred miles of river, into open 
land and inhabited towns again ; of our further journey 
southward, and all reaching home, two months later, 
restored, guarded, guided, and brought there in safety 
by the " I am with you always ;" I must not now delay 
to write, for the tale so far has kept me fully long, and 
I must stop. 

I have tried to give a vivid picture of the events of 
that pivotal day ; but nothing can equal the vivid con- 
sciousness we had that day of the presence of the Mas- 
ter ; nothing can equal the vividness of the certitude, 
that day, that God did intervene and save us. 

Some who have not tested it may sneer and doubt, 
but ice jive know that God hears prayer. 

There are times, when, in the fulness of faith, the 
Christian can exclaim, " The Lord is my light and my 
salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength 
of my life, of whom shall I be afraid ? Knowing that 
He who is all-powerful is round about him, his heart 
may be preserved in holy confidence that he will be 
protected from danger, if such is the will of his heavenly 
Father, and that he will be enabled to bear with sub- 



28 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

mission every trial that his Divine Master sees meet 
should overtake him. 

The narrative given by J. G. Paton, of his experi- 
ences among an uncivilized people in the South Pacific, 
furnishes a lively illustration of this, when he went to 
the ~New Hebrides as a missionary, he settled on the 
island Tanna. A season of sickness and the visit of a 
hurricane which followed, were attributed by the 
superstitious natives to his presence and efforts to 
teach them a new way of worship. So they resolved 
either to murder the mission party or to drive them 
out of the island. 

In his autobiography, Paton says : 

The inhabitants for miles around united in seeking 
our destruction, but God put it into even savage hearts 
to save us. Old JSowar, the chief under whom we lived, 
and the chief next under him, Arkurat, set themselves 
to rescue us. Along with Manuman and Sirawia, they 
opposed every plan in the public assembly for taking 
our lives. Some of their people also remained friendly 
to us, and by the help of our Aneityumese Teachers, 
warned us of danger and protected our lives. Deter- 
mined not to be baffled, a meeting of all our enemies 
on the island was summoned, and it was publicly re- 
solved that a band of men be selected and enjoined to 
kill the whole of those friendly to the Mission, old 
Nowar among the rest, and not only to murder the 
mission party, but also a trader who had lately landed 
to live there, that no one might be left to give infor- 
mation to the white men or bring punishment on the 
islanders. Frenzy of excitement prevailed, and the 
blood-fiend seemed to over-ride the whole assembly ; 
when, under an impulse that surely came from the 
Lord of Pity, one great warrior chief who had hitherto 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 29 

kept silent, rose, swung aloft a mighty club, and smash- 
ing it earthwards, cried aloud : 

" The man that kills Missi must first kill me, the 
men that kill the mission teachers must first kill me 
and my people, for we shall stand by them and defend 
them till death !" 

Instantaneously, another chief thundered in with the 
same declaration, and the great assembly broke up in 
dismay. All the more remarkable was this deliverance, 
as these two chiefs lived nearly four miles inland, and, 
as reputed disease-makers and sacred men, were re- 
garded as amongst our bitterest enemies. It had hap- 
pened that a brother of the former chief, having been 
wounded in battle, I had dressed his wounds, and he 
recovered, for which, perhaps, he now favored us. But 
I do not put very much value on that consideration, for 
very clearly did our dear Lord Jesus interpose directly 
on our behalf that day. I and my defenceless company 
had spent it in anxious prayers and tears, and our hearts 
overflowed with gratitude to the Saviour who rescued 
us from the lion's jaws. 

One day, while toiling away at my house, the war 
chief, his brother, and a large party of armed men sur- 
rounded the plot where I was working. They all had 
muskets, besides their own native weapons. They 
watched for me some time in silence, and then every 
man levelled a musket straight at my head. Escape 
was impossible. Speech would only have increased 
my danger ! My eyesight came and went for a few 
moments. I prayed to my Lord Jesus, either himself 
to protect me, or to take me home to his glory. I tried 
to keep working on at my task, as if no one was near 
me. In that moment, as never before, the words came 
to me, " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will 
do it ;" and I knew that I was safe. Retiring a little 
from their first position, no word having been spoken, 
they took up the same attitude, somewhat farther off, 



30 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

and seemed to be urging one another to fire the first 
shot. But my dear Lord restrained them once again, 
and they withdrew, leaving me with a new cause for 
trusting Him with all that concerned me for time and 
eternity. 

Perils seemed, however, to enclose me on every 
hand, and my life was frequently attempted. I had to 
move about more cautiously than ever, some days 
scarcely daring to appear outside my mission premises. 
For I have ever most firmly believed, and do believe, 
that only when we use every lawful means for the 
preservation of our life, which is God's second greatest 
gift to man (his Son being the first), can we expect God 
to protect us, or have we the right to plead his precious 
promises. 

One day I held a service in the village where, morn- 
ing after morning, their tribes assembled, and declared 
that if they would believe in and follow the Jehovah 
God, He would deliver them from all their enemies and 
lead them into a happy life. There were present three 
Sacred Men, chiefs, of whom the whole population 
lived in terror — brothers, or cousins, heroes of tradi- 
tional feats, professors of sorcery, and claiming the 
power of life and death, health and sickness, rain and 
drought, according to their will. On hearing me, these 
three stood up and declared they did not believe in 
Jehovah, nor did they need his help, for they had the 
power to kill my life by Nahak (i. e., sorcery or witch- 
craft), if only they could get possession of any piece of 
the fruit or food that I had eaten. This was an essen- 
tial condition of their black art. Hence, the peel of a 
banana or an orange, and every broken scrap of food, 
is gathered up by the natives, lest it should fall into the 
hands of the Sacred Men, and be used for Kahak. This 
superstition was the cause of most of the bloodshed and 
terror upon Tanna. And being thus challenged, I 
asked God's help, and determined to strike a blow 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 31 

against it. A woman was standing near with a bunch 
of native fruit in her hand like our plums, called quon- 
qore. I asked her to be pleased to give me some, and 
she, holding out a bunch, said : 

" Take freely what you will." 

Calling the attention of all the assembly to what I 
was doing, I took three fruits from the bunch, and 
taking a bite out of each, I gave them, one after another, 
to the three Sacred Men, and deliberately said, in the 
hearing of all : 

" You have seen me eat of this fruit, you have seen 
me give the remainder to your Sacred Men. They 
have said they can kill me by Nahak, but I challenge 
them to do it, if they can, without arrow or spear, club 
or musket, for I deny that they have any power against 
me or against any one by their sorcery." 

The challenge was accepted. The natives looked 
terror-struck at the position in which I was placed. 
The ceremony of Nahak was usually performed in 
secret, the Tannese fleeing in dread, as Europeans 
would from the touch of the plague. But I lingered 
and eagerly watched their ritual. As the three chiefs 
arose and drew near to one of the Sacred Trees, to 
begin their ceremonial, the natives fled in terror, crying: 

" Missi, away ! Alas, Missi !" 

But I held on at my post of observation. Amidst 
wavings and incantations, they rolled up the pieces of 
the fruit from which I had eaten, in certain leaves of 
this Sacred Tree into a shape like a waxen candle. 
Then they kindled a sacred fire near the root, and con- 
tinued their mutterings, gradually burning a little more 
and a little more of the candle-shaped things, wheeling 
them around their heads, blowing upon them with their 
breaths, waving them in the air, and glancing wildly 
at me, as if expecting my sudden destruction. Won- 
dering whether, after all, they did not believe their 
own lie, for they seemed to be in dead earnest, I, more 



32 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

eager than ever to break the chains of such vile super- 
stition, urged them again and again, crying: 

" Be quick ! Stir up your gods to help you ! I am 
not killed yet, I am perfectly well !" 

At last they stood up and said, " We must delay till 
we have called all our Sacred Men. We will kill Missi 
before his next Sabbath come round. Let all watch, 
for he will soon die, and that without fail." 

I replied, " Very good ! I challenge all your priests 
to unite and kill me by sorcery or Jsahak. If, on Sab- 
bath next, I come again to your village in health, you 
will all admit that your gods have no power over me, 
and that I am protected by the true and living Jehovah 
God!" 

For every day throughout the remainder of that 
week, the conchs were sounded, and over that side of 
the island all their Sacred Men were at work trying to 
kill me by their arts. Xow and again messengers 
arrived from every quarter of the island, inquiring 
anxiously after my health, and wondering if I was not 
feeling sick, and great excitement prevailed amongst 
the poor deluded idolaters. 

Sabbath dawned upon me peacefully, and I went to 
that village in more than my usual health and strength. 
Large numbers assembled, and when I appeared they 
looked at each other in terror, as if it could not really 
be I, myself, still spared and well. Entering into the 
public ground, I saluted them to this effect — 

" My love to you all, my friends ! I have come again 
to you about the Jehovah God and his worship." 

The three Sacred Men, on being asked, admitted 
that they had tried to kill me by Nahak, but had failed; 
and on being questioned, why they had failed ; they 
gave the acute and subtle reply, that I also was myself 
a Sacred Man, and that my God being the stronger 
had protected me from their gods. Addressing the 
multitude, I answered thus — 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 33 

" Yea, truly ; my Jehovah God is stronger than your 
gods. He protected me, and helped me ; for He is the 
only living and true God, the only God that can hear 
or answer any prayer from the children of men. Your 
gods cannot hear prayers, but my God can and will 
hear and answer you, if you will give heart and life to 
Him, and love and serve Him only. This is my God, 
and He is also your friend if you will hear and follow 
his voice." 

Having said this, I sat down on the trunk of a fallen 
tree, and addressed them — 

" Come and sit down all around me, and I will talk 
to you about the love and mercy of my God, and teach 
you how to worship and please Him." 

Two of the Sacred Men then sat down, and all the 
people gathered round and seated themselves very 
quietly. I tried to present to them ideas of sin, and of 
salvation through Jesus Christ, as revealed to us in the 
Holy Scriptures. 

The third Sacred Man, the highest in rank, a man 
of great stature and uncommon strength, had meantime 
gone off for his warrior's spear, and returned brandish- 
ing it in the air and poising it at me. I said to the 
people — 

" Of course he can kill me with his spear, but he 
undertook to kill me by Nahak or sorcery, and promised 
not to use against me any weapons of war; and if you 
let him kill me now, you will kill your friend, one who 
lives among you and only tries to do you good, as you 
all know so well. I know that if you kill me thus, my 
God will be angry and will punish you." 

Thereon I seated myself calmly in the midst of the 
crowd, while he leaped about in rage, scolding his 
brothers and all who were present for listening to me. 
The other Sacred Men, however, took my side and, as 
many of the people also were friendly to me and stood 
closely packed around me, he did not throw his spear. 
3 



34 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

To allay the tumult and obviate further bloodshed, 
I offered to leave with my teachers at once, and, in 
doing so, I ardently plead with them to live at peace. 
Though we got safely home, that old Sacred Man 
seemed still to hunger after my blood. For weeks 
thereafter, go where I would, he would suddenly ap- 
pear in the, path behind me, poising in his right hand 
that same Goliath spear. God only kept it from being 
thrown, and I, using every lawful precaution, had all 
the same to attend to my work, as if no enemy were 
there, leaving all other results in the hands of Jesus. 
This whole incident did, doubtless, shake the prednjices 
of many as to sorcery ; but few even of converted 
natives ever get entirely clear of the dread ]Sahak. 

The opposition of some of the people of Tanna to 
a change in their religious worship was so great, that 
they endeavored to murder J. G. Paton, who was sta- 
tioned there as a missionary, and plundered his dwell- 
ing. He very narrowly escaped, by taking refuge in 
a neighboring village, and from thence followed a 
friendly chief named Faimungo, who lived on the way 
to the house of another missionary, which was his 
place of refuge. They had gone part of the way, when 
they were met by a body of armed men, who had been 
sent to intercept them. Of the manner in which he 
escaped these people, he says : — 

They encircled us in a deadly ring, and one kept 
urging the other to strike the first blow or fire the first 
shot. My heart rose up to the Lord Jesus ; I saw Him 
watching the scene. My peace came back to me like 
a wave from God. I realized that I was mortal till 
my Master's work with me was done. The assurance 
came to me, as if a voice out of heaven had spoken, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 35 

that not a " musket would be fired to wound us, not a 
club prevail to strike us, not a spear leave the hand in 
which it was held vibrating to be thrown, not an arrow 
leave the bow, or a killing-stone the fingers, without 
the permission of Jesus Christ, whose is all power in 
heaven and on earth. He rules all nature, animate 
and inanimate, and restrains even the savage of the 
South Seas." In that awful hour I saw his own words, 
as if carved in letters of fire upon the clouds of heaven : 
" Seek, and ye shall find. Whatsoever ye shall ask in 
my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glori- 
fied in the Son." I could understand how Stephen 
and John saw the glorified Saviour as they gazed up 
through suffering and persecution to the Heavenly 
Throne ! Yet I never could say that on such occasions 
I was entirely without fear. Nay, I have felt my rea- 
son reeling, my sight coming and going, and my knees 
smiting together, when thus brought close to a violent 
death, but mostly under the solemn thought of being 
ushered into eternity and appearing before God. Still, 
I was never left without hearing that promise in all its 
consoling and supporting power coming up through 
the darkness and the anguish, "Lo, I am with you 
alway." And with Paul I could say, even in this dread 
moment and crisis of being, " I am persuaded that 
neither death nor life * * * nor any other crea- 
ture, shall be able to separate us from the love of God 
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

" Faimungo and others now urged us to go on in 
the path. I said, ' Faimungo, why are we to leave 
you ? My God heard your promise not to betray me. 
He knows now what is in your heart and in mine. 
I will not leave you ; and if I am to die, I will die by 
your side." 

He replied, " Now, I go on before; Missi, keep close 
to me." 

His men had gone, and I persuaded my Aneityumese 



36 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

to follow them. At last, with a bound, Faimnngo 
started after them. I followed, keeping as near him 
as I could, pleading with Jesus to protect me or to 
take me home to glory. The host of armed men also 
ran along on each side with their weapons ready ; but 
leaving everything to Jesus, I ran on as if they were 
my escort, or as if I saw them not. If any reader won- 
ders how they were restrained, much more would I, 
unless I believed that the same Hand that restrained 
the lions from touching Daniel held back these savages 
from hurting me. We came to a stream crossing our 
path. "With a bound all my party cleared it, ran up 
the bank opposite, and disappeared in the bush, "Faint 
yet pursuing," I also tried the leap, but I struck tho 
bank and slid back on my hands and knees towards 
the stream. At this moment I heard a crash above 
my head amongst the branches of an overhanging tree, 
and I knew that a killing-stone had been thrown, and 
that that branch had saved me. Praising my God, I 
scrambled up on the other side, and followed the track 
of my party into the bush. The savages gazed after 
me for a little in silence, but no one crossed the stream; 
and I saw them separate into two, one portion return- 
ing to the village and another pressing inland. With 
what gratitude did I recognize the Invisible One who 
brought their counsels to confusion. 

My enemies seldom slackened their hateful designs 
against my life, however calmed or baffled for the mo- 
ment. One one occasion, when natives in large num- 
bers were assembled at my house, a man furiously 
rushed on me with his axe ; but a Kaserumini chief 
snatched a spade with which I had been working, and 
dexterously defended me from instant death. Life in 
such circumstances led me to cling very near to the 
Lord Jesus ; I knew not, for one brief hour, when or 
how attack might be made ; and yet, with my trem- 
bling hand clasped in the hand once nailed on Calvary 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 37 

and now swaying the sceptre of the universe, calmness 
and peace and resignation abode in my soul. 

Next day, a wild chief followed me about for four 
hours with his loaded musket, and, though often di- 
rected towards me, God restrained his hand. I spoke 
kindly to him, and attended to my work as if he had 
not been there, fully persuaded that my God had placed 
me there, and would protect me till my allotted task 
was finished. Looking up in unceasing prayer to our 
dear Lord Jesus, I left all in his hands, and felt im- 
mortal till my work was clone. Trials and hair-breadth 
escapes strengthened my faith, and seemed only to 
nerve me for more to follow; and they did tread swiftly 
upon each other's heels. Without that abiding con- 
sciousness of the presence and power of my dear Lord 
and Saviour, nothing else in all the world could have 
preserved me from losing my reason and perishing 
miserably. His words, " Lo, I am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the world," became to me so real 
that it would not have startled me to behold Him, as 
Stephen did, gazing down upon the scene. I felt his 
supporting power, as did St. Paul, when he cried, " I 
can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth 
me." It is the sober truth, and it comes back to me 
sweetly after twenty years, that I had my nearest and 
dearest glimpses of the face and smile of my blessed 
Lord in those dread moments when musket, club or 
spear was being levelled at my life. Oh the bliss of 
living and enduring, as seeing " Him who is invisible." 

S. C. Spurr in The Baptist relates the following re- 
markable instance of the care of the Lord over one of 
his servants, an aged woman, a Quakeress, and a true 
Christian : 

At one period of her life she resided with one of her 
brothers who owned a large silk mill. Her house was 



38 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

removed some distance from his works, and stood in 
its own grounds. Adjoining the mill was a large un- 
tenanted house, and my friend would insist upon sleep- 
ing in this house in preference to remaining at her 
brother's. Nobody knew exactly why she insisted 
upon this, but those who knew her most intimately 
guessed that she selected this lonely spot in order that 
she might spend quiet hours in communion with her 
Lord. In this house she also kept a number of her 
valuables, and other rooms were used by her brother 
to store certain of his goods. Friends often remon- 
strated with her, and said that surely she would be 
murdered some night, and her brother ordered the rope 
of the mill to be connected with her bedroom in case 
of danger. Her only reply to these remarks was this : 
" He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High 
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty;" and 
"There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any 
plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give 
his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
ways." 

One night she retired to rest as usual, and, after 
committing herself to God, fell asleep. Then God 
spoke to her in a vision of the night. She often as- 
sured us that a voice said distinctly to her, " My child, 
rise and go to the window." Instantly she awoke, and 
getting out of bed went to the window and drew aside 
the blind. The moon was shining brightly, and there 
in the moonlight, right under her window, stood a man 
of villainous countenance, gazing up into her window. 
Their eyes met, and for a minute the gaze was con- 
tinued. Here was mischief — this man meant no good 
— what should she do? Xo house was within half a mile. 
At hand lay the bell-rope. Should she pull it ? Then 
her favorite text came, " He shall give his angels charge 
over thee to keep thee in all thy ways." Releasing the 
blind, she stood for a moment, and then turned to God 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 39 

with this prayer, "Lord, thy child trusts thee alone — 
give me rest, Lord." With this she re-entered her 
bed, and instantly fell asleep. Upon hearing this story, 
her friends demanded that she should leave the mill- 
house, and to meet their wishes she complied. The 
very night she left, the mill loas robbed. But the most 
singular thing was that, while the robbers ransacked 
the house and burst open doors and rifled locks, not one 
article of hers was touched. Two umbrellas had been 
left together — a new silk one belonging to her, and 
a shabby one belonging to her brother — the shabby 
one Was missing, while the new one lay untouched. 

Soon afterwards the robbers were apprehended and 
transported. A few years later her brother was in 
Australia, when a man stopped him in a large factory 
and said: 

"Are you not Mr. C , of M ?" 

"Yes," was the reply. 

"Then I have a confession to make to you. I was 
transported here for the robbery of your mill, and one 
thing in connection with it is on my mind, and I must 
relieve myself by telling you of it. I had prepared to 
rob the mill for some time before I succeeded, and one 
night I went there with the full intention of murdering 
your sister, and afterwards spoiling the place; but as 
I stood in the moonlight gazing up into her window 
I was startled to see the blind move, and to see her 
face gazing into mine. For a moment or two I could 
not move, and when I recovered from my astonish- 
ment I was compelled to go away without effecting my 
purpose." 

The man then asked for forgiveness. 

Many persons will say this is a singular story and 
exceptional. Perhaps so; but God would do more for 
us if we would allow Him. 

When Hudson Taylor was in London, studying 



40 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

medicine, before going out as a Missionary to China, 
he had an experience which illustrates the care over 
his children which our Heavenly Father manifests. 
He describes the incident as follows : 

The husband of my former landlady was chief officer 
of a ship that sailed out of London. By receiving for 
her his half-pay monthly and remitting it to her, I 
saved her a commission. I had been sending it to her 
several months, when she wrote to me, asking me to 
obtain the money as early as possible that month, and 
forward it to her, as her rent was coming due, and she 
depended upon that for the means of paying it. The 
request came to me at an inconvenient time. I was 
working very hard preparing for an examination in the 
hope of obtaining a scholarship which would, of course, 
be of service to me, and I felt that I could not afford 
the time to go during the busiest part of the day to the 
city and procure this month's half-pay. I had, how- 
ever, sufficient in hand to enable me to send it, and 
I did so, purposing after the examination to go and 
draw the money to recoup myself. 

Before the examination I found one day that the 
medical school was closed, on account of the funeral of 
the Duke of Wellington. I had, therefore, an oppor- 
tunity of going at once to the office, which was situated 
in a street out of Cheapside, and applying for the 
amount due. To my surprise and dismay, the clerk 
told me that he could not pay it, as the officer in ques- 
tion had run away from his ship and gone to the gold 
diggings. "Well," I replied, "that is very incon- 
venient for me, for I have already advanced the money 
and sent it, and I know his wife will have no means 
of repaying me." 

Very soon after this — I am not sure that it was not 
the very night on which this occurred — while sewing 
together some sheets of paper on which I took notes 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 41 

of lectures, I pricked the first finger of my right hand 
with the needle, and in a few moments forgot all about 
it. The next day at the hospital I continued dissecting 
as before. The body was that of a person who had 
died of a bad fever, and was more than usually dis- 
agreeable and dangerous. I need scarcely say that we 
who were at work upon it dissected with more than 
ordinary care, knowing that the slightest scratch or 
abrasion would cost us our lives. Before the morning 
was far advanced, I began to feel very weary and un- 
well. By the time the next lecture was through, my 
whole arm and right side were full of severe pain, and 
I was both looking and feeling very ill. 

Finding that I could not resume my work, I went 
into the room to bind up the portion that I was dis- 
secting and put away my apparatus, and said to the 
demonstrator, who was a very skilful surgeon, "I can- 
not think what has come over me," describing the 
symptoms to him. " Why," he said, "it is clear 
enough, you must have cut yourself in dissecting ; you 
know very well this is a case of malignant fever." I 
assured him that I had been very careful, and was quite 
certain that I had had no cut or scratch. "Well," he 
said, " you must certainly have had one," and he very 
closely scanned my hand, but in vain. 

All at once it occurred to me that I had pricked my 
finger the night before, and I asked him if it were pos- 
sible a prick from a needle the night before could be 
unclosed. His opinion was that this was probably the 
cause of trouble, and he advised me to get a hansom 
and drive home as fast as I could, and arrange my 
affairs forthwith, "For," he said, "you are a dead 
man." 

When the surgeon [one sent by his uncle] came and 
learned all particulars, he said to me, " Wei], if you 
have been living moderately you may pull through, but 
if you have been going in for beer and that sort of 



42 FOOTPRINTS AMD WAYMARKS. 

thing, there is no manner of chance for you.'*' I 
thought that if soher living was to do anything for me, 
few would have a better chance, as nothing but bread 
and water had been my diet for a good while past. 
I told him I had lived very abstemiously, and found 
that it helped me in my study. '* "Well now," he said, 
" you must keep up your strength, for it will be a pretty 
hard struggle." 

The days and nights slowly passed along, but at 
length, after several weeks, I was sufficiently restored 
to get downstairs and lie on the sofa, and then I learned 
that two men — not from the same hospital — who had 
had dissection wounds at the same time as myself, had 
both succumbed, while I was spared. 

The doctor coming in one day found me on the sofa, 
and was somewhat surprised to learn that with assist- 
ance I had walked downstairs. " Now," he said, " the 
best thing you can do is to get off, as soon as you feel 
equal to the journey, to the country. You must rusti- 
cate until you have recovered a fair amount of health 
and strength, for if you begin your work too soon the 
consequences may still be serious.*' 

It seemed as if the Lord directed my mind to the 
conclusion to go again to the shipping office and in- 
quire about the wages I had been unable to draw. I 
asked, in the name of Christ, that the strength might 
be given, and, sending the servant up to my room for 
my hat and stick, set out to walk to Cheapside. 

I certainly was strengthened by faith, but I never 
took so much interest in shop windows as I did on that 
journey. At every second or third shop window I was 
glad to lean a little against the plate-glass, and take 
time to examine the contents of the window before 
passing on. It needed a special effort of faith when 
I got to the bottom of Farringdon Street, to attempt 
the toilsome ascent of Snow Hill. However, God did 
help me, and in due time I reached Cheapside, turned 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 43 

down the by-street in which the office was found, and 
sat down very exhausted on the steps leading to the 
first floor, on which the office was placed. 

After a little rest, however, and a further season of 
prayer, I succeeded in climbing the staircase, and, to 
my comfort, found in the office the clerk with whom 
I had hitherto dealt in this matter. Seeing me look 
deathly pale and very much exhausted, he kindly in- 
quired as to my health, and I told him that I had had 
a serious illness, and was ordered to the country, but 
thought it well to come and make further inquiry, lest 
there should have been a mistake about the mate 
having run off to the gold diggings. " Oh," he said, 
" I am so glad that you have come ; it turns out that 
it was an able seaman of the same name that ran away. 
The mate is still on board, the ship has just reached 
Gravesend, and will be up very soon. I shall be glad 
to give you the half-pay to date, for doubtless it will 
reach his wife more safely through you, as we all know 
what seamen are when they arrive at home after a long 
voyage." 

Before, however, giving me the sum of money, he 
insisted upon my coming inside and sharing his lunch. 
I felt it was the Lord indeed who was providing for 
me, and accepted his offer with thankfulness. When 
I was refreshed by rest and lunch, he gave me a sheet 
of paper to write a few lines to the wife, telling her of 
the circumstances. On my way back I procured in 
Cheapside a post-office order for the balance due to her, 
and posted it; and, returning home again, I felt myself 
now quite justified in taking an omnibus as far as it 
would take me. 

Very much better the next morning, after settling 
up some little matters that I had to attend to, I made 
my way to the surgery of the surgeon who had at- 
tended me. I felt that, though my uncle was prepared 
to pay the bill, it was right for me, now that I had 



44 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

a little money in hand, to ask for the account. The 
kind surgeon refused to allow me to pay anything for 
his attendance, but he had supplied me with quinine, 
which he allowed me to pay for to the extent of eight 
shillings. When that was paid, I perceived that the 
sum left was just sufficient to take me to my home ; 
and to my mind the whole thing was a wonderful inter- 
position of God on my behalf. 

I knew that the surgeon was sceptical, and told him 
I should very much like to speak to him freely, if I 
might do so without offence — that I felt that under 
God I owed my life to his kind care and help, and that 
I wished it were possible for me to say anything to him 
which might result in his becoming a partaker of the 
like precious faith which I had. He kindly permitted 
me to speak very faithfully and freely to him. I told 
him of this providential dealing of God with me, and 
how apparently hopeless my position had been the day 
before, when he had ordered me to go to the country. 
I described to him the mental exercises that I had 
passed through ; but when I told him that I had actu- 
[ ally taken my hat and stick, and had walked to Cheap- 
side, he looked at me incredulously and said to me, 
I u Impossible ! Why I left you on the sofa more like a 
I ghost than a man !" And I had to assure him again 
and again that, strengthened by faith, I had actually 
taken the walk. I told him what money remained to 
me, what payments I had to make, and showed him 
I that I had a balance left which would just take me to 
my home, having sufficient for a little provision by the 
way, and for the omnibus at the end of the railway 
journey into Yorkshire. 

My kind friend was completely broken down, and 

; with tears in his eyes, said : " I would give all the world 

• for a faith like yours." I, on the other hand, had the 

iftjoy of telling him that it was to be had without money 

and without price. I never saw him again. When 



1 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 45 

I came back to town, restored to health and strength 
again, I found that he had had a stroke, and had left 
for the country. I subsequently learned that he never 
rallied. I was able to gain no information as to his 
state of mind when taken away, but I have always felt 
very thankful that I had the opportunity, and embraced 
it, of bearing that testimony for God. I cannot but 
entertain the hope that the Master himself was draw- 
ing him, by his dealings with me, and that I shall meet 
him again in the better land. 

A writer in the Illustrated Christian Weekly describes 
a conversation which turned on the subject of " special 
providences," in which the following incidents were 
narrated : 

It gives me a world of comfort to think that God 
takes thought of me. It is proof that I am accepted as 
his child. I have had experiences that could be ac- 
counted for in no other way, that are remarkable 
enough, it seems to me, to strengthen any one's faith. 
The first time such an interposition came directly home 
to my heart was when I was quite a young woman. I 
was driving with my husband and my sister-in-law in 
a lonely country way. We had a livery stable team, 
the horse was decidedly skittish, and as we went tear- 
ing down a long hill I caught a glimpse of an old man 
standing, with his back towards us, in a peculiar, shrink- 
ing, cringing attitude in the brush beside the road. 
Acting upon an uncontrollable impulse, I seized the 
reins, pulling up the horse with all my strength, and 
crying out, " I want to speak to him !" in such an ex- 
cited voice that my husband commanded the horse to 
stop. The old man turned a white face towards us, 
and just at that moment, without warning of bell or 
whistle, a locomotive went flying across the road di- 
rectly in front of us. The horse reared, the old man 



46 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

caught him by the bridle, saying brokenly, " Thank 
God, you are saved !" 

We were all paralyzed for the moment, then my 
husband found voice to say : 

•• "What railroad is that? I had no idea there was a 
railway within miles of this place !" 

" It's the new Mill River Branch," exclaimed the old 
man. " They have just put down the rails, and the 
engines of the construction trains have been running 
wild here for two or three days. I saw one of them 
coming the very moment that I caught sight of you 
with this horse, that we consider hereabouts to be al- 
most unmanageable. I was sure I could not stop him, 
and I turned my back to escape seeing you crushed or 
thrown into the air by the engine." 

" What possessed you to desire to speak to that old 
man ?" said my husband. " I never knew you to be so 
actuated before. Indeed, you are always decidedly 
averse to my accosting any chance wayfarer." 

" I cannot explain it in any natural way," I replied. 
" It was a sudden, uncontrollable impulse that did not 
allow me to wait for an instant's consideration." 

" It was a thought from the Lord," said the old man. 
" ISo Christian can doubt that it was a direct interposi- 
j tion of Divine Providence to save you from certain 
{ death." 

" There is a great comfort in the thought," said 
another of the company. "The incident reminds me 
of an experience of my own some years ago. One 
frosty winter's day, my son John and I were driving 
quite rapidly along the beaten snow-path between two 
large manufacturing villages. A little way from the 
road, at one point, we came upon a man who was cut- 
ting down a large oak tree. As soon as I caught sight 
of his shining axe glistening in the sun, and realized 
what he was doing, I was seized with a sudden alarm 
and exclaimed : 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 47 

" Stop, John ! We must wait until it is clown." 

" It will fall away from the road. Don't you see 
that he is cutting it with that object in view?" 

" But I was not reassured, and, although I am not at 
all a nervous woman, I called out in a sharp, quick 
voice to the horse : 

"Whoa, Major!" 

The well-trained animal came to a stand-still, and the 
man who was chopping arrested his blows, stepped 
back, and shouted, " Go ahead. This tree will not fall 
your way." 

Even as the words reached us, there was a crushing 
sound, a tremble in the boughs of the great tree, and 
behold, it was falling directly towards the road, and so 
near us as it crashed down, that some of the twigs of 
the wide-spreading branches brushed old Major's head. 

No one spoke a word. Son John handed me the 
reins silently, as he stepped from the sleigh, and, taking 
the woodman's extra axe, helped to clear a way for us 
to pass. A half hour later, as our horse was led care- 
fully under some of the huge limbs from which the 
branches had been cut, the woodman said, reverently 
and humbly, " The tree was rotten at the core. I did 
not suspect that. I think, ma'am, the Lord told you 
to cry, * Whoa !' in a sharp voice, for, don't you see, if 
you had not, I should have been crushed as well as 
you," for the tree bent over so sudden and so unexpected 
there would have been no chance for me to dodge. All 
the time I have been trimming out a way for you, I 
have been saying to myself, ' Fear not, therefore, ye 
are of more value than many sparrows.' And not one 
of the two sold for a farthing fell to the ground without 
the Father's knowledge, you know." 

A colporteur in a barber's shop in Beyrout, Syria, 
was reading from the New Testament the passage, 
"Avenge not yourselves." He was speaking in a loud 



48 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

voice, when presently a man entered, took his hand 
and kissed it. He was asked why he did so ? He re- 
plied, " Because you have saved my body from punish- 
ment, and my soul from death." u How ?" the col- 
porteur asked. " I sent my servant to-day to a man 
who owes me money, to ask him to pay me my due. 
The man only reviled me and my servant, and sent 
him away empty. This made me very angry. I took 
up a stick in my hand and a knife, and was going to 
take vengeance on the man for having insulted and 
wronged me, when I only asked for my right. In pass- 
ing I heard the text you quoted, saying we are not to 
avenge ourselves. It went deep into my heart and con- 
science. I stood to reflect, and thought it better not to 
give way to my anger, as the Lord said. And by this 
I escaped the evil consequences of my bad purpose, 
and must I not thank you ?" 

The Journal of Stephen Grellet contains an interest- 
ing illustration of the well-known fact, that a strong 
and overpowering impulse so absorbs the mind that 
other things have for the time but little place in it. 

When in Italy in 1819, after a visit to Naples, he 
says : — 

I feel now as if I must hasten to Rome; various 
objects under other circumstances, might claim a few 
days of my time ; Vesuvius displays a grand sight; in 
the day thick columns of smoke rise up to a considerable 
height; at night, they are blazing pillars. At a short 
distance from here are excavations made into the streets 
of Herculaneum and Pompeii, long buried under beds 
of lava, on which vineyards are now planted; but, 
though as a man I should be greatly interested in visit- 
ing them, they are not the objects for which my groat 
and blessed Master has sent me to these nations. 
With singleness of heart I must prosecute the business 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 49 

to which he has called me. My bonds for Rome also 
feel so heavy, that I could not have any pleasure in 
those things, which, were I differently circumstanced y 
would interest me so much. It has indeed been so 
with me for years past. Though in the course of my 
travels I am among or pass near objects of great curi- 
osity; and I have from early life taken great interest in 
such things, yet the discipline under which the Lord 
has kept me, and the weight of the religious service to 
which he has called me, have been such that I have 
not felt at liberty to turn out of my way in travelling, 
or to tarry longer in any place, merely to gratify 
myself. 

William Taylor, in his autobiography, gives a re- 
markable instance of this devotion to the work set 
before him, in a man whom he met with in San Fran- 
cisco in 1850. It was a period especially trying on 
account of storms, scarcity of food and an attack of 
Asiatic cholera. Taylor writes : — 

In those days there came a man to that coast who 
seemed to belong to the old prophetic age. He was a 
friend indeed to all in need. He had nothing but the 
clothes he wore ; he was a hard worker, but worked 
for nothing, yet he lacked nothing ; and nothing was 
really needed, of human resources, by any sufferer in 
the city, that he was not ready promptly to supply. 

As quickly as a vulture could scent a carcass, that 
strange man would find every sick person in town, and 
minister to his needs, whether of soul or body. If he 
needed a blanket, the stranger, who was known to 
everybody, went at c*nce to some merchant who had 
blankets to sell, and procured the gift of one for the 
needy man ; so for the need of any article of clothing; 
or even a bowl of soup, he would bring it hot from the 
galley of some soupmaker. He was soon known as a 

4 



50 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

direct express almoner, working most efficiently along 
the lines of human demand and supply. 

His appearance impressed me profoundly at first 
sight. It was one First-day morning after preaching 
in my little meeting-house on Powell Street, that I was 
met at the door by a tall man, wearing a well-worn 
suit of gray jeans, and a slouch white wool hat with a 
broad brim. He was lean and bony; he was sallow 
from exposure to the sun, and his features were 
strikingly expressive of love, sympathy, patience and 
cheerfulness. He grasped my hand and held it and 
wept, as though he had met a long-absent brother. 

I took him home with me and heard his story. He 
was a native of Central !New York State. He was then 
about thirty-five years old, and had been devoted to 
the work of God among the poor, quietly, unofficially, 
and without pay, from his youth. He had spent many 
years instructing Indians in the far West, and was 
recognized and honored as a chief among them. Once, 
when his tribe was overwhelmed, and driven from their 
homes by a more powerful war tribe, the white chief 
refused to run, but hasted to meet the advancing war- 
riors, and commanded a hearing, and dissuaded them 
from the further execution of their murderous pur- 
pose. 

He had great sympathy for the suffering slaves of the 
South, and cried to God for the overthrow of slavery. 
He had spent much of his time for the relief of the 
blacks in our large cities. When overworked in sick 
rooms, he would plant and cultivate a field of corn, and 
thus recover strength, and acquire independent means 
of subsistence. 

During the year 1849 and the beginning of 1850, he 
was laboring among the sick and needy people, white 
and colored, of Washington, D. C. One night, while 
thus engaged at the capital, the Lord, in a vision 
showed him San Francisco. The city of tents was 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 51 

mapped out before him in minute detail. He noted 
its topography, its few houses and many tents, and saw 
the hundreds of sick men as they lay in their tents and 
in the hospital, and saw a tall young man busily en- 
gaged in ministering to them, and the Lord said : 
''Alfred, arise, go to San Francisco, and help that man 
in his work." 

" Next morning I arose and went by early train to 
New York, and took passage for San Francisco, I 
spent," said he, "many weeks among the sick and 
dying at the Isthmus of Panama, and thence got a 
passage in a Pacific steamer, which anchored in San 
Francisco harbor this morning. From the deck of the 
ship I recognized the city just as I saw it in vision, 
thousands of miles away. I knew that my man from 
his appearance, was a Gospel minister, and set out at 
once, as soon as I got ashore, to find him in some pul- 
pit in the city. I went to four chapels before I reached 
yours, and waited till the minister of each came in, and 
I said of each, as he entered his pulpit : 'No, he is not 
the man I seek.' It was late when I reached your 
chapel. You were well on in your discourse. The 
house being crowded, I stood at the door and said : 
'■ That is the man whom God showed me in vision, 
away in Washington City.' This is my apology for 
the unceremonious hearty greeting I gave you as you 
came out of the door at the close of the service." 

That was my friend Alfred Roberts, the most un- 
selfish man I ever knew. Day and night he ministered 
to the sick and dying of that city for many months, as 
only he could do. 

Then he went to Sacramento City, and devoted many 
months, extending in the spring of 1851, doing every- 
thing within the possibilities of human agency, for the 
relief of the cholera patients in the first and only visita- 
tion of that plague known in California, 

In that campaign Roberts broke down his health, 



52 FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMARKS. 

and returned to San Francisco a helpless wreck of his 
former standard of noble manhood. I gave him shelter, 
and all the help he was willing to receive, and nursed 
him till he was able to walk round at will. Then he 
said : "My work in California is done." So two mem- 
bers of my church bought for him a first-class passage 
to New York for three hundred dollars, and he bade 
us a final farewell. 

After his departure I heard nothing from him for 
nearly three years, when I received a letter from his 
own hand, written in Jerusalem, Palestine. In that 
letter he gave me an outline of his labors during the 
intervening years. He said he returned to his old field 
of labor in Washington, but suffering the disability of 
poor health, he devoted some months to manual labor 
on a farm in his native State, and recovered the health 
and strength of former years. 

Then he w^ent to England, and spent a few months 
in London among the sick and destitute folk. He then 
went to Italy, and besides the bodily relief he gave to 
many, he distributed among the common people a 
thousand Bibles and testaments. As such labors were 
not tolerated in those days, he w r as pursued and greatly 
annoyed by the police; but the Lord was with bim, 
and delivered him from the hands of the oppressors. 

He went to Jerusalem, where he was still laboring 
among the Turks. 

When I visited Jerusalem in the spring of 1863, 
I made the acquaintance of Bishop Gobat, resident 
Bishop then under the joint auspices of England and 
Prussia. 

Bishop Gobat gave me a detailed account of the 
labors of " that remarkable man," Alfred Roberts, in 
Jerusalem. Besides relieving the sick he spent much 
of his time in the instruction of Mohammedan pil- 
grims. 

The Bishop said : " Roberts knew no language out- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 53 

side of his mother tongue, but he came frequently to 
our book depository and got us to select the most 
interesting and instructive portions of the Arabic Bible 
and other books, and mark the pages with the begin- 
ning and ending of each stirring portion, and went 
with these tracts for distribution. He knew the im- 
port of every tract. He had such a remarkable insight 
into the character of men by a glance of his eye, that in 
a crowd of a thousand Turkish pilgrims he could select 
his orator for the occasion and enlist him, and show 
him what to read and proclaim to the people, and so, 
day by day, he had great crowds of attentive listeners. 
He finally worked himself down, and it was clearly 
manifest that his constitution was broken, and that his 
work was done. We all loved him as a man of God 
and a brother in Christ, and I fitted up for him a com- 
fortable room in our college building on Mt. Zion, and 
my own daughter waited on him daily, in cheerful 
sympathy for him, during a lingering illness of two 
years, when he died in peace, and we buried him on 
Mt. Zion, but a few yards from the tomb of King 
David. 

The experiences above related of Stephen Grellet 
and Alfred Roberts, illustrate not only the power of a 
" ruling passion," but the reality of that Divine com- 
munion which forms the principal theme of the present 
chapter. 

It is recorded in the Book of Genesis that when the 
earth was yet without form and void, and darkness was 
upon the face of the deep, the Spirit of God moved 
upon the face of the waters, and God said, "Let 
there be light, and there was light." So it is in the 
redemption of man from a state of spiritual blindness 
and alienation. The Spirit of God is felt moving on 



54 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

his mind, and a measure of Divine Light irradiates his 
heart, showing him the path in which he should walk 
— what he should choose and what he should reject. 
To this blessed truth our Saviour bore testimony when 
He declared that " Light is come into the world. " 
The reason that so many fail to exhibit the blessed 
fruits it is calculated to produce, is, that they refuse to 
bring their actions to this Light to be judged by it, but 
walk in their own evil ways. 

It is a source of comfort to one who loves his fellow- 
creatures, to believe that thousands and tens of thou- 
sands of persons in every part of the world, even amid 
surroundings which we must consider very unfavorable 
for the development of truth and righteousness, have 
been illuminated by this Light — have heard the voice of 
the Saviour speaking in their hearts — and through 
obedience thereto, have experienced the fulfilment of 
the declaration, " If we walk in the Light, as God is in 
the Light, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth 
us from all sin." And this we believe has been the 
case with many who never heard of the coming in the 
flesh of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, yet who have known 
Him in spirit as a Guide and Teacher. 

A very interesting feature in the extensive journeys 
of Stephen Grellet, was the frequency with which he 
met, in unexpected places, with pious people who had 
been led into a manner of life different from that with 
which they were surrounded. When in Switzerland, in 
1814, he found in the villages near St. Gallen a num- 
ber of persons, both Protestants and Papists, who, 
from religious convictions and tenderness of conscience, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 55 

had withdrawn from the various professions they were 
joined to. His Journal says, " They spend much of their 
time alone in religious retirement, and when they meet 
)gether, sit in silence or read some portions of the 
[oly Scriptures. Some of them appear also to be con- 
vinced of the unrighteousness of war, and of the unlaw- 
fulness of oaths, under the Christian dispensation. I 
have heard of many others, under similar convictions, 
who reside among the mountains." Of these people 
he remarks, when on a subsequent visit, " I am com- 
forted in the belief that the Lord has many precious 
plants that I may never hear of, whom He cares for 
himself, and whom He waters from his holy presence." 
On another occasion he makes the more general com- 
ment, " It is a great consolation to me to have the per- 
suasion that there are those among the various nations 
and the various Christian professors, yea, among Jews 
and Gentiles, who fear God, and, according to the 
measure of grace they have received, work righteous- 
ness, and are accepted with Him through the one Me- 
diator." 

Among the students of the University at Leipsic, he 
found several small companies, who met together 
silently to wait upon the Lord, and to feel after the 
manifestations of his Spirit, or at seasons to unite to- 
gether in putting up their prayers to Him. 

When at Valencia, Spain, he met with an aged man, 
eminent in his profession as a lawyer, who had become 
convinced of the evils that flowed from the gross super- 
stitions which abounded. This man had written to 
the king of Spain, plainly setting forth the sufferings 



56 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

to which many of his subjects were exposed, in his 
name. The king's prime minister ordered his imme- 
diate arrest and punishment, but his life was saved by 
the judge, who was a personal friend, who had him 
confined in a cell as a madman. There he remained 
six months, and was released on a change in the gov- 
ernment, which had taken place shortly before S. Grel- 
let's visit. S. Grellet says of him, " This aged man 
appears to be well acquainted with several of our Chris- 
tian testimonies, especially as regards the influences of 
the Spirit. Hence his views respecting Divine wor- 
ship and the ministry are pretty clear. He knows a 
number of persons convinced of the same important- 
truths, who reside in various parts of Spain, but have 
mostly retired to lonely places, on account of the great 
persecution that lately prevailed, when many of his 
friends, spiritually-minded persons, perished. We told 
those pious individuals who came to see us, that the 
Lord is very near to those that fear Him ; that a book 
of remembrance is written for those that think on his 
name ; that though they should be so few as two or 
three only engaged in waiting upon Him, He has 
promised to be in the midst of them. As we were thus 
proceeding to encourage them, the dear old man, with 
brightened countenance and glistening eyes, said, " 
yes, it is a blessed privilege for the two or three, or 
even the poor solitary one, to wait upon the Lord, and 
to obtain access to his Divine presence." This he had 
been very graciously permitted to realize whilst shut 
up in his dark cell, and treated by some of his keepers 
as a madman." 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 57 

At Brives, in Spain, where Stephen Grellet's mother 
resided, he had religious opportunities during his suc- 
cessive visits to that country with Roman Catholic 
nuns, some of whom were engaged in waiting on the 
sick in the hospital. His " heart was enlarged among 
them in the love of Christ, who was preached to them 
as the only Saviour and Bread of Life. They were 
directed to enter into the temple of their hearts, sanc- 
tified hy the Spirit, and there to offer up to God the 
worship well-pleasing in his sight, in spirit and in 
truth." "Several of them," he says, "I believe hold 
frequent silent communion with God, and amidst the 
round of forms that their religious order requires, they 
enjoy Christ, the substance." " My soul does magnify 
the Lord my Saviour, who has brought me to the 
knowledge of some among the various nations of the 
earth, outwardly joined to separate religious names and 
communities, priests, monks, nuns, &c, to whom my 
heart is united in the Spirit, and whom I can salute as 
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. By-and-by, I trust, 
all these will be united as fellow-servants of our Lord 
in the Church triumphant, harmoniously singing praises 
and ascribing glory to their God and Saviour." 

The Malakans, who were numerous in Southern 
Russia, he found to be a people holding pure and spir- 
itual views of Christian doctrine. At a meeting with 
them, there was present one of the clergy of the Greek 
Church, named Macarius, who himself seemed to be a 
pious and spiritually-minded man. After the meeting 
had ended he remained for some time absorbed in 
silent meditation, and then, with a flood of tears, he 



58 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

cried out, "In what a state of darkness and ignorance 
have I been ! I thought I was alone in these parts 
endeavoring to walk in the light of the Lord, to wait 
for and sensibly feel the influences of his Spirit, so as 
to be able to worship Him in spirit and in truth, and 
behold how great has been my darkness, so that I did 
not discover that blaze of light here around about me, 
among a people poor in the world, but rich in faith in 
the Lord Jesus Christ." 

In conversation with Stephen Grellet, this Macarius 
imparted some of the exercises of his mind and the 
way in which the Lord by his Spirit had been pleased 
to lead him. He said " that formerly he endeavored, 
and that with much care and labor, to prepare his 
sermons, but when in the pulpit he attempted to 
preach them, he felt them to be so dry and lifeless, 
that his tongue seemed to refuse to perform its office, 
and he was obliged to stop. "When under very deep 
abasement before the Lord, he felt the quickening in- 
fluences of his Spirit constraining him to speak, as He 
then gave him matter and utterance. Xow, when he 
ascends the pulpit, his dependence is on the Lord alone, 
and he has nothing prepared beforehand." 

The surprise which Macarius felt at finding others 
who had been led in the same path with himself, brings 
to our mind the case of Thomas Story. He had been 
remarkably visited by the overshadowing of Divine 
power, and many of the things pertaining to the king- 
dom of heaven had been opened to his understanding. 
He knew of no one who had passed through such an 
experience, and he supposed it was a peculiar mani- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 59 

festation of Divine regard to him personally. While 
in this state of mind, he attended a meeting among 
Friends in Cumberland, where his concern was to know 
whether they were a people gathered under a sense of 
the enjoyment of God in their meetings. He says : 

"Not long after I had sat down among them, that 
heavenly and watery cloud overshadowing my mind, 
broke into a sweet abounding shower of celestial rain, 
and the greatest part of the meeting was broken to- 
gether, dissolved and comforted in the Divine presence 
of the true heavenly Lord, which was divers times re- 
peated before the meeting ended. In the same way, 
by the same Divine power, I had been often favored 
before when alone and when no eye but that of heaven 
beheld, or any knew but the Lord himself, who, in in- 
finite mercy, had been pleased to bestow so great a 
favor. 

And, as many small springs and streams, descending 
into a proper place, and forming a river, become more 
deep and weighty, even so, thus meeting with a people 
gathered of the living God, into a sense of the enjoy- 
ment of his Divine and living presence, through Jesus 
Christ, the* Son of God and Saviour of the world, I felt 
an increase of the joy of the salvation of God, and the 
more by how much I now perceived I had been under 
the like mistake as the prophet of God of old. 

It is interesting to note the effect on the mind of 
Stephen Grellet of the extensive intercourse with people 
of other persuasions, into which his religious engage- 
ments led him, which he expresses as follows : 

The more I have mixed with persons of other re- 
ligious denominations the stronger has become my 
attachment to our own Society and the Christian prin- 



60 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

ciples which we maintain. I rejoice greatly indeed in 
having met with individuals, yea, many in several na- 
tions where I have travelled, who are very near and 
dear to me in spirit, and who, I believe, love the Lord 
Jesus in sincerity, but I met with no people, who, as a 
religious body, maintain doctrines and testimonies so 
Scriptural and agreeable to vital Christianity as does 
the religious Society of Friends. 

It is a matter of especial interest to meet with testi- 
monies to the truth of the Apostle's declaration, that 
" The Grace of God, which bringeth salvation, hath 
appeared unto all men." One such I find in the fol- 
lowing extract from a recent sermon by William 
Taylor, a Methodist Bishop, whose field of labor is in 
Africa. 

You all want to know, in regard to the heathen, 
whether from my rather extensive acquaintance with 
them I find unmistakable evidence of a Divine enlight- 
enment such as the Scriptures represent. I say, em- 
phatically, yes. 

I grant that the search for light amid thejr darkness 
is attended with difficulty, and can't be drawn out by 
question and answer. They do not receive it through 
the medium of a spoken or written language. They 
[are like children who] see a rainbow, and witness the 
sublimity of a thunderstorm, and receive impressions 
of beauty and giandeur never to be erased from mem- 
ory ; but when you address them in the language of 
science, and ask them to explain to you the colors of 
light and the currents of electricity, they can't tell you 
anything about it. 

A Christian man once said to a poor slave girl in 
the South: "Do you pray?" "No, sah." " Dul you 
never pray?" "No, sah; I can't read." He stood em- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 61 

barrassecl for some moments, feeling that he had met 
a poor creature too ignorant to receive instruction. 

Then said he : " Do you know anything about Jesus 
Christ?" "Oh! yes, sah; Jesus be my best friend. 
He save me from my sins. I talks to Jesus all day ; 
and all through the dark hours ob de night, when I no 
can sleep, I be talking to my Jesus." 

The untutored heathen of Africa have no vain phil- 
osophy by which to explain away their perception of 
God as a great personal being. They have their 
"greegrees," "charms," and "amulets," but they 
never pray to them, — they " cry to God in the day of 
trouble." 

When a Kaffirman dies, they dig a grave about two 
feet in diameter, and about five feet deep, and let the 
corpse down in a squatting position ; but before they 
put him down, they seat him beside his grave to give 
opportunity for any who may wish, to have a last talk 
with him. They say that the man's spirit has left the 
body, but lingers near for a time for this last communi- 
cation from friends or foes. 

If a man is present, who has an unadjusted quarrel 
with him, he will approach him tremblingly, and con- 
fess his sorrow that the unpleasantness ever occurred, 
and that it was not settled long ago ; then begs him 
not to come back to "witch his children," or kill his 
cattle — just please drop it, and say no more about it. 

Another will come and say, " My father died sixty 
moons ago. His body was buried in the forest near 
his village. He was a good man, and his spirit has 
gone to live in the bright home of Dahlah. [God.] 
When you get there, you will see my father, and I want 
you to tell him that you saw me " — then a confidential 
message is given him. Others will come in like man- 
ner, and load down the departing spirit with messages 
to fathers and mothers in the final home of good 
people. 



62 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

We learn from this, that these heathen 'believe that 
when the body dies it returns to dust, the spirit dies 
not, but lives on indefinitely ; and that good spirits go 
and dwell with God in happiness. 

Whence came they by this knowledge ? They did 
not learn it from books — they have no books ; they did 
not learn it from " a preacher of righteousness " — none 
there. They learned it from God in his primary school, 
and these things abide in their minds as facts, and not 
as theories. 

I will add a simple illustration of the possibility of a 
heathen's surrender to God, his abandonment of all 
hope in idols, angels, or men, his acceptance of God 
alone, and his trust in Him. 

In the month of February last, I held a District Con- 
ference at Totaka, on Cavalla River, west coast of 
Africa. In the midst of a love feast we suddenly heard 
an awful screaming in the king's town, a little over a 
quarter of a mile distant, followed by the wailings of 
the townspeople all that day, and the ensuing night. 
A great chief had died; a giant in size, and a man of 
renown among his people. He was one of the chiefs 
who had invited us to found a mission there, and " his 
mark " was on our articles of agreement; . but we knew 
not his language, nor he ours, so as to enable us to 
speak to him of Jesus and salvation. Some of the 
heathen men there had been to sea, and learned a little 
" Kroo English." 

Monday morning I went to see the dead chief. I 
was surprised to find him appearing as natural as life, 
just like a man in deep sleep, with a placid counte- 
nance. 

I inquired about his death, and in their broken Eng- 
lish they told me that all through the night of his 
struggle with death he was praying. That the chief- 
tain lay on his mat in his hut with a taper throwing 
off light enough to make darkness visible, and every 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 63 

now and then be cried out, "Niswah ! Niswah! Nis- 
wah !" Then sinking into the silent struggle with death 
• for a time ; and then again breaking out, " Niswah ! 
Niswah ! O Niswah !" Later in the night he talked 
much to Niswah in subdued tones — " Niswah, I am 
your man. I belong to you, Niswah. I accept you, 
Niswah, I take you. I trust you, Niswah, I trust you." 
So he continued to talk to God by the only name he 
knew Him to have. If that poor fellow did not sur- 
render himself to Niswah, what then? If he did not 
abandon all hope in every other helper, and receive 
and trust Niswah, what did he do? If the Lord Jesus 
would not help such a poor fellow, surrendering and 
trusting God as did that chief, then He was not the 
man of sorrows, sympathy, and salvation, I have always 
taken Him to be. "Man's extremity is God's oppor- 
tunity." In such extremity, not necessarily a death 
extremity, a poor heathen may thus believe, and receive 
"the power of God unto salvation." 

When Stephen Grellet was in Constantinople, in 
1819, he was introduced to the Spanish Ambassador. 
On entering the apartment of his wife, S. G. says, 
"We were greatly surprised. It seemed from her 
dress and manners as if we were with one of our women 
Friends. She told us that from a child she was brought 
up in simplicity of dress, which she likes : it was, said 
she, her valued mother's maxim and practice to en- 
deavor to adorn the mind with Christian virtues, and 
not the body with vain apparel, which disfigures rather 
than embellishes it. ' I have frequently thought,' said 
she, ' that could I have been in one of those nations 
where you Friends reside, I should have been one of 
your Society, for what I have heard of your religious 
principles has greatly endeared your Friends to me ; 



64 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

you are, however, the first I have ever seen. My 
mother often spoke of your Society and religious prin- 
ciples; she had read some of your books, but never 
saw any of your members; she dressed as plainly as 
I do.' We found on conversing with her on her re- 
ligious views, that she has a claim to our Christian 
affection; the tenderness of her heart rendered her very 
near to us ; she is acquainted with the sensible influences 
of the Divine Spirit." 

When at Smyrna on the same religious visit, S. 
Grellet became much interested in one of the Turkish 
officials, the Bey Effendi, Director of the Custom- 
house ; who, in the course of a religious conversation, 
bore testimony to this same principle, saying, " that if 
all men were attentive and obedient to the Spirit of 
God in their hearts, peace, harmony and happiness 
would prevail over the whole world; for all the woe 
and misery that attend man in this life are the conse- 
quence of his departure from this blessed and Divine 
principle." 

When at Rome, in the further prosecution of his 
journey, in 1819, S. Grellet was at the palace of the 
Cardinal Consalvi, the Prime Minister of the Pope, 
where he had an interview with several of the secre- 
taries, &c, of the Cardinal. "Their inquiries," he 
says, "led me particularly to speak of the influences of 
the Divine Spirit, a gift freely dispensed of God, which 
man's wisdom, learning or power cannot obtain for 
himself; much less can he dispense it to others: by it 
only the deep things of God can be known; by it ac- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 65 

ceptable worship is performed; qualification for the 
ministry of the Gospel is received; the Apostles were 
by this rendered able ministers of the New Testament, 
not of the letter, but of the Spirit. This led me to 
state that the Popes, Cardinals, Bishops, &c, in their 
ordination of ministers or priests, cannot confer upon 
them spiritual gifts, neither have they themselves any 
in virtue of their stations; but Christ Jesus, the Head 
of the Church, is the giver of spiritual gifts, and with 
his Divine anointing He gives power; He alone can 
forgive sin; He only is the Saviour of men." He adds, 
"they were all very serious whilst these and other sub- 
jects of vital importance were treated upon." 

When at Berlin, in 1832, S. Grellet met with a 
young man from the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Sehwerin, 
who had suffered imprisonment and fines, for his re- 
ligious views, which were more spiritual than those of 
the Established Church [Lutheran] of Prussia. He 
told S. Grellet that "several other persons in the parts 
that he came from are convinced of the same principles 
with himself, — convictions which have not been made 
by any outward instrumentality, but by the immediate 
operation of the Divine Spirit, which leads into all 
Truth, and by which the things of God are known, 
and the right understanding of the Holy Scriptures is 
given." 

When at Athens, in 1819, S. Grellet met with a/ 
Capuchin Friar, whose rough garb and long beard 
were far from prepossessing; but in whom he found 
a humble Christian and a spiritually-minded man, who ^ 



66 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

had learned that " it is in the temple of the heart that 
the Lord is to be found, worshipped and honored; that 
there is the altar on which acceptable sacrifice is to be 
brought to the Lord." S. Grellet says, "We encour- 
aged him to keep this light that the Lord has lighted 
in his heart, bright and burning, to direct the attention 
of the people to it, — to be an instrument to gather them 
to Christ and his Spirit." 

Stephen Grellet, in his Memoirs, speaks with much 
interest of Gossner, who had been a Roman Catholic 
priest in Bavaria, and whose eyes were opened to see 
more clearly, than at one time he had done, the spirit- 
ual nature of true religion. He says of him, "His 
great aim was to bring men to Christ, and to an 
acquaintance with the operation of the Holy Spirit on 
their own minds; and to encourage them watchfully 
and faithfully to attend to the dictates thereof, because 
it is the Spirit that leads into all Truth." In promotion 
of this concern it was his practice to have a company 
of pious persons to meet at his house in the evening, 
and to spend some time together in silent waiting on 
the Lord. 

This " operation of the Holy Spirit," to which Goss- 
ner directed the attention of his hearers, is the source 
of all true practical religion. It was the experience of 
this which made so great a change in the character of 
Israel D. Titus, a Friend in Canada, who deceased a few 
years ago. In his earlier life, he was a great fighter. 
After he had yielded to the convicting power of Divine 
Grace, and become established in the Truth, he had an 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 67 

appointed meeting in a small log house. After the 
meeting he walked with the friend to whom I am 
indebted for these particulars, through the pine woods 
to his house. During the walk he recounted the mer- 
cies of God to him, and spoke of his past life, when, as 
he said, "he loved to fight;" and related the last 
attempt of the kind that he had made. He thought 
he had received an insult from a young man, and he 
started " to have it out in a fight." As he was passing 
through a pine woods he was arrested by a Divine 
visitation. In his own quaint way of expressing it, he 
said, " I laid down upon the ground and had consider- 
able of a time of it." The result was, that he turned 
back again. My friend, who knew him long and inti- 
mately, but not till after the change in his course of 
life, said of him, " I think I have known but few in 
whom the Spirit of the Lamb was so conspicuous as it 
was in him." 

To what, but to this "sensible influence of the 
Spirit," are we to attribute the contriting impressions 
sometimes produced by ministrations uttered in a lan- 
guage unknown to the hearers ? 

David Sands, in his Journal, mentions that when 
about to leave the Friends at Congenies, in France, 
"I felt drawn to supplicate the great Father of the 
family; which was a new trial, as there were none to 
interpret. Having submitted to the intimation of the 
Divine will, the people appeared much affected ; so 
that the Lord works by his Spirit when and as He 
pleases, even when the words spoken are not under- 



68 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

stood by the outward ear." On another 
when in the same section of country, he says, " In this 
meeting, I felt drawn to prayer ; it was a season that 
greatly refreshed my deeply-tried mind; and though 
the people did not understand my language, yet they 
felt their hearts humbled much." 

Among the papers of David Sands was one on the 
" Inward Witness," from which the following extract 
is taken : — 

" There is an internal testimony given to the Gospel 
of Christ in the heart of every one that receives it in 
truth. These are the beginnings of that eternal life 
wrought in the soul, which the Son of God bestows on 
all believers : 'He that hath the Son hath life.' Oh, 
the spiritual life of a Christian runs into eternity! It 
is the same Divine temper, the same peaceful and holy 
qualities of mind, communicated to the believer here, 
in the days of grace and visitation, which shall be ful- 
filled and perfected in the world of glory. And this is 
a blessed witness to the truth of Christianity; it proves 
with abundance of evidence that it is a religion suf- 
ficient to save." 

The true minister of the Gospel, he who has received 
his gift from the Head of the Church, and who is care- 
ful to wait for the renewed Divine command for its 
exercise and for the fresh extension of Divine power, 
often goes to his religious meetings not knowing 
whether any vocal labor will be required of him on 
that occasion, and, if it should be called for, in what 
manner he may be led to labor. Sometimes he may 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 69 

feel it his place to set an example of deep, inward,^ 
silent waiting on the Lord. Thus, Stephen Grellet^ 
mentions that, when in Philadelphia, in 1805, he at- 
tended five meetings, in all of which his mouth was 
closely sealed. He felt that the Society was then in a 
low state, spiritually, owing to many " having departed 
from that retiredness of spirit and lowliness of mind 
which characterized our former Friends and the primi- 
tive Christians." ISTot long after this, he had two 
meetings among the " Nicholites" in Delaware or 
Maryland, of which he says, " Silence, solemn silence, 
was what, by my example, I had to direct them to. It 
is safe for us to follow Divine guidance, and I believe 
that this silent testimony, when of the Lord's ordering, 
often speaks to the attentive mind a volume of instruc- 
tion." Of a meeting at Third Haven, Maryland, he 
records, " The expectation of the people was so out- 
ward that the Lord was pleased to send them away 
disappointed. Silence was my service amongst them." 
When at Congenies, in France, in 1807, he attended a 
meeting among the few there professing with Friends, 
which was held in silence. He says, " My mind was 
much engaged for them, that they may be gathered 
into that state where our whole expectation is from 
the Lord alone ; in which, therefore, the soul is pros- 
trated before Him, hearkening to the secret language of 
his Spirit and waiting for his Divine guidance. When 
recording his travels in England, in 1812, where he 
frequently felt restrained from vocal expression, he re- 
marks, " It seems to some a very strange thing that I 
should appoint meetings among them, and then have 



70 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

nothing to say to them. O, could they read in my soul, 
they would know, that on many such occasions, deep 
is my travail before the Lord, and fervent also my 
supplications for them." 

The " Divine guidance" for which Stephen Grellet 
felt the necessity of waiting, sometimes leads a minister 
to pass by what may seem favorable opportunities for 
religious service, or even to decline invitations to hold 
meetings with those who appear desirous of his com- 
pany and labors. It was, no doubt, under these re- 
straining influences, that Paul felt himself at one time 
forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in 
Asia, where, on other occasions, he labored abundantly. 

The Journal of Stephen Grellet mentions that in his 
journey from Verona, in Italy, through the Tyrolese 
Alps, to Munich, in Bavaria, in 1820, he made no stay 
in any of the towns through which he passed. He 
" felt deeply" for the inhabitants, but " prayer seemed 
to be the only service required." On the same journey 
he says, " We came to Vauvert [in France], at which 
place I apprehended that I might stop to have a meet- 
ing, but on coming to it, the way entirely closed in my 
mind." At a neighboring town where he stopped, he 
found that the people of Vauvert had been much dis- 
appointed that he did not stop there. Their clergy- 
man had sent for three others, like-minded with him- 
self, to come and assist him, their intention being " to 
frustrate my having a meeting by substituting for it a 
disputation on some of their favorite tenets. But the 
Lord has defeated their purpose. Safe it is to follow 
his Divine guidance." 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 71 

The "Divine guidance" for which the minister ought 
to wait in the exercise of his gift, has often led him 
into a line of labor which seemed uncalled for, so far 
as his own knowledge or reason could determine, but 
which He who knoweth all things, saw to be needed. 

Stephen Grellet mentions that in 1831 he had a 
meeting at .Ban de la Roche, the scene of the labors of 
that good man, Oberlin, in which, along with the word 
of encouragement and comfort, he says, " I had also a 
solemn warning to proclaim to some, accompanied 
with earnest entreaties to turn away from their rash 
and evil purposes, and, after the example of the prodi- 
gal son, to return to their Heavenly Father. I id as as- 
tonished at myself, to have this kind of labor among 
such a people, but I was afterwards told that a son of 
the late worthy Oberlin was in the practice of frequent- 
ing unprofitable company. He had concluded to go 
that very night to Strasburg and enlist as a soldier. 
Hearing of the meeting, curiosity brought him there. 
The word preached sank deep into his heart. The 
Spirit of Truth, the faithful Witness, performed his 
office in him. His purposes were changed, and he 
spent the night in retirement and prostration of soul 
before God." 

In the course of David Sands' service and travels in 
Ireland, the following very remarkable circumstance 
occurred, proving that the ways of Providence are fre- 
quently inscrutable, in his gracious interposition for 
the deliverance of his creatures from the power of the 
enemy, and in leading his ministers and messengers by 
a way that they know not, in the simple obedience of 
faith, that so He may make them instruments in effect- 
ing his wise and gracious purposes. 



72 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

As he was riding along he felt a concern to stop and 
appoint a meeting, to which his companions offered some 
objections, as it was a place bnt thinly peopled, and the 
night very stormy, so that probably few would attend. 
But David Sands did not feel easy to give it up, saying, 
" If there are but few, the great and good Shepherd 
has promised to be with us, and I shall feel clear in 
having done what appears to be my duty." They 
yielded to his concern, and notice was given. At the 
time appointed a greater number assembled than was 
expected. The meeting became settled in much sol- 
emnity. He arose, commencing his testimony in these 
words, " Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 
Turn unto Him who is able and willing to save. Al- 
though your sins be as scarlet, He will make them 
white in the blood of the Lamb. He is still waiting to 
be gracious, and though you have strayed far from the 
fold, He will lead you as unto pleasant pastures, where 
streams of living water flow forevermore." He had 
much to offer, all pointing and leading to the one great 
Fountain of mercy, and then added, " I am bound to 
express my feeling and impression (though I know not 
for whom it is intended) that I believe there are those 
present who have been so far led astray by the enemy 
of their soul's salvation as to be ready to take their 
own life." Soon after this the meeting broke up, 
when a man of a respectable appearance, under great 
distress of mind, approached him, saying, " Your mes- 
sage is to me. It is true that I now have the instru- 
ments of death in my pocket. I have become weary 
of life, and have no resolution to withstand the tempter, 
so as to face the cruel blasts of adversity, and had de- 
termined this night to commit the fatal deed. Yet I 
felt the awful responsibility ; and having heard of this 
meeting, and knowing that Friends often sat in silence, 
I believed that I should be enabled to become calm and 
composed before the awful close of life. But now I have 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 73 

abundant reason to bless God, in that He has made you 
the instrument of saving my life, as also raj immortal 
soul, which but for this interposition, would have rushed 
unbidden into the presence of an insulted God." His 
heart now overflowed with gratitude, both towards 
David Sands as the instrument, and unto the Lord, by 
whom he was thus sent to save a fellow-creature from 
destruction. 

It is stated that soon after this wonderful providen- 
tial interposition, this person became a changed and 
greatly improved character. 

An anecdote is recorded of a gay and thoughtless 
young man, who had early imbibed infidel principles, 
that he was invited to go to a place of worship, but 
refused positively. Some weeks after, he was passing 
by the same place, and being alone and having nothing 
to do, he thought he would go in without being ob- 
served. On opening the door he was struck with awe 
at the solemn silence of the place. The text used 
by the preacher arrested his attention. " I discerned 
among the youths a young man void of understand- 
ing." His conscience was smitten by the power of the 
Spirit. A view of his profligate life passed before his 
eyes, and he trembled under conviction for sin. It 
proved a time of serious awakening and of turning 
from the way of sin into the path that leads to life and 
peace." 

The effect produced by ministry may be regarded as 
one test of its value. Louis XIV, of France, once said 
to Massillon, the celebrated preacher, " Father, when 
I hear others preach, I am very well pleased with them, 
but when I hear you I am dissatisfied with myself." 



74 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

Happy would it have been for him if this dissatisfac- 
tion had led to a more thorough amendment of life 
than history leads us to suppose was the case ! A 
shipbuilder, in speaking of the preaching of George 
Whitfield, said that when he went to his parish church, 
he could build a ship from stem to stern under the ser- 
mon, but under Whitfield's discourses he could not 
lay a single plank! Another critic remarked that 
Whitfield treated religion " as if he meant what he 
said." But it must be borne in mind that the effects 
produced are often not known, either to the preacher 
or to the most of his audience, and he is required to 
sow in faith, being careful simply to obey the Divine 
commands, which should direct him in all his steps. 



CHAPTER II. 

PR A YER. 

The man financially embarrassed— The sick girl — A real prayer — 
Martha Eouth at sea — The poor Friend— The flannel skirt — 
Wood and candles— Widows in want— The flooded hamlet— 
The prisoner at Glatz— " Pray and pump" — The kidnapped 
children— The Indian hunter— " Pray without ceasing"— Anna 
Shipton— An Atheist taught to pray — Scottish covenanters — 
Richard Hulby— " God is our refuge"— The Indian and the fish 
— A refuge in the fog— Missionaries and pirates— Anna Shipton's 
illustrations — Lavater — Pleadings vs. prayers— ''Hold the train." 

Many of the preceding incidents referring to the 
Divine care and protection extended to the Lord's ser- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 75 

vants, may be regarded as illustrations of the efficacy 
of Prayer. When the Lord by his holy power touches 
the heart, and awakens in it living desires after Him, 
and the performance of his will, the spirit of prayer is 
begotten in the mind; and his ear is ever open to hear 
the cries of his servants. 

There is much instruction as well as encouragement 
in the Divine command and the annexed promise, as 
recorded in the fiftieth Psalm — "Pay thy vows unto 
the Most High : and call upon me in the day of trouble; 
I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." Thou- 
sands of the Lord's servants have experienced that his 
ear is open to hear their petitions ; and that He is 
indeed a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. 
Many have been conscious that they have not faith- 
fully " paid the vows " which they had been led to 
make to the Most High ; yet, as they have turned to 
Him with full purpose of heart, they have found that 
there is forgiveness with Him that He may be feared, 
and that He will regard their prayers. It is to those 
who continue in a state of rebellion against the Lord's 
will, that the language of the Psalmist applies, which 
immediately follows the sentence already quoted : " But 
unto the wicked, God saith, What hast thou to do, to 
declare my statutes, or that thou should'st take my 
covenant into thy mouth ? Seeing thou hatest instruc- 
tion, and castest my words behind thee." 

A writer in Zion's Herald relates the following in- 
stance of deliverance received from the Lord, on whom 
he had called " in the day of trouble." 

I had had sickness and death in my family, attended 



76 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMAKKS. 

with heavy expenses, which, with disappointment in 
business, had greatly embarrassed and crippled me 
financially. I had a certain piece of property, and it 
represented about all I was then worth, on which I had 
advanced several thousand dollars, and which I was 
liable to lose unless I could raise about as much more. 
I had exhausted all my resources for raising the neces- 
sary amount, and had failed to get it. I could do 
nothing more. Just then there came to my mind some 
of those precious promises about prayer, of which the 
New Testament is so full. I knelt down and prayed. 
In my prayer I told the Lord the story of my troubles 
and my wants, and asked Him for help and for direc- 
tion as to what I should do. And there I left the 
whole matter, feeling a conscious assurance that some- 
hoiv, the Lord would help me. 

Very soon there was suggested to my mind the name 
of a gentleman who might possibly help me, if applied 
to. I knew him to be a man of abundant means, but 
I had never had any business transactions with him. 
He was comparatively a stranger to me, and as I could 
give only my own note as security for the payment of 
the money, it seemed useless to think of going to such 
a man for help, and I at once dismissed the thought of 
him from my mind. But, as I again went to the Lord 
in prayer, this same man again came up before my 
mind, and I said to myself, possibly this may be of the 
Lord. I will settle the question by at once going to 
the man and asking him for such help as I need. 

I went directly to the gentleman's office, and I found 
him in and alone. Without any ceremony I stated to 
him the object of my visit, and briefly narrated to him 
my circumstances, asking if he could give me the help 
I needed. Without a moment's hesitation he said, 
" Yes, I think I can let you have what you need," and 
he did let me have it. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 77 

A touching narrative is given in the American Mes- 
senger, which is described as "A true incident," show- 
ing relief extended in trouble of another nature: 

A sick girl was tossing in the restlessness of pain 
and fever, burning with thirst, yet unable to swallow 
a drop of water to assuage it, without adding to her 
pain. "Call my father," she cried in her agony to her 
mother, her only watcher, who had sought in vain to 
afford any relief. Softly the mother went to an adjoin- 
ing room where Florence's father, exhausted by pre- 
vious watching, lay in a deep sleep. Hesitating, she 
went back without disturbing him, to hear again the 
beseeching request, " Call my father. I am so thirsty, 
and I cannot drink." 

This was something beyond the mother's experience, 
that water, taken when craved so earnestly should dis- 
tress, instead of afford relief. She felt that some power 
beyond her own must bring help, if it came. For 
twenty-four hours Florence had neither slept nor drank. 
Once, when she had tried holding water in her mouth 
to assuage the thirst, she had swallowed a little, which 
caused intense distress, and she turned from it as from 
an enemy. Again the mother went to the next room, 
and again returned without disturbing the sleeper. 
She lay down softly by the restless child, and earnestly 
yet silently, prayed that if possible God would relieve 
her. In a moment came the words : 

"Mother, I feel better; I would like a drink." 

Too much for the mother's faith, she replied: 

"A drink ! You know how even a swallow distresses 

you." 

"Please give me a drink, mother," was the reply. 

The glass of cold water was held to Florence's lips, 
and eagerly and without fear she drank freely of its 
contents, and lay back on the pillow with a look of 
perfect quiet in her face. Hardly daring to move, her 



/8 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

mother repeated in a low voice two verses she had 
learned when a child younger than Florence, and which 
hundreds of times since she had repeated to herself 
when wakeful at night, to find them bring rest, if not 
sleep. 

" When courting slumber 
The hours I number, 
And sad cares cumber 

My weary mind ; 
This thought shall cheer me, 
That thou art near me, 
Whose ear to hear me 

Is still inclined. 

My soul thou keepest 
Who never sleepest ; 
'Mid gloom the deepest 

There's light above. 
Thine eyes behold me, 
Thine arms enfold me, 
Thv word has told me 

that God is love." 

She looked at Florence as she finished the lines, and 
the restless eyes were closed. She was asleep. Not 
daring to move, she lay perfectly quiet, with her eyes 
fixed on a clock which stood on a bracket near by. 
Twenty minutes of sweet sleep, and Florence opened 
her eyes with a smile, and said, "I would like some- 
thing to eat." 

No one but a mother who has watched with intense 
solicitude over a sick child can tell the music in those 
words. 

Quickly she prepared a delicate morsel, and was sur- 
prised to find it could be eaten with no more pain fol- 
lowing than had been caused by the draught of water. 
The crisis was passed, and Florence was out of danger. 

"I was 'at my wit's end,'" said the mother to her 
the next morning, " while watching with you last night. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 79 

And if ever I prayed in my life, I did when I came in 
the second time and lay down beside you." 

"I was praying, too, mamma," was the unexpected 
and most welcome reply. 

"And, mother," she added, "why did you never say 
those sweet verses to me before ?" 

" I do not know," was all the reply her mother could 
give ; " but you may take them now, and if they prove 
of as much comfort to you as they have long been to 
me*, I shall be very glad ; and neither you nor I," she 
added, "must ever forget the night when we both 
prayed." 

The remark which the mother made to her sick 
child, "If ever I prayed in my life, I did when I came 
in the second time and lay down beside you," calls 
attention to the difference there is between true prayer 
and that which is only a formal performance. A cor- 
respondent of the Christian relates the following inci- 
dent, which illustrates this point : — 

Nelly, who had lately recovered from a dangerous 
illness, was out one day with her mother. As they 
were getting near home the mother noticed the child 
had been unusually silent for a time, and all at once 
she stood still and as if with a determined effort spoke 
thus : " Mamma" — then a pause — " I prayed last night, 
mamma." " Did you, dear; don't you always pray?" 
" Oh, yes, but I prayed a real prayer last night. I don't 
think lever prayed a real prayer before." 

Then the mother gradually drew from her the fol- 
lowing : 

" I was lying awake last night such a long time, and 
was thinking how sinful I was. I thought of what a 
naughty girl I had been so often. I tried to reckon 
up all the bad things I had done, and they seemed such 



80 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

a lot that I tried to remember all I had done in one 
week, and there seemed such a heap piled up, and then 
I was sure I had not remembered them all. This made 
me so miserable, and I thought, ' What if Jesus had 
come for me when I was so ill V I was sure I could not 
have gone to heaven." 

"Then I thought about Jesus coming to die for bad 
people, and that He had promised to forgive them ; so 
I got out of bed and knelt down and tried to tell Jesus 
how bad I was, and that I could not remember all £he 
sins of even one week, so I just asked Him to think of 
them all for me, every one, and then I waited to give 
Him time to think, and when I thought He had remem- 
bered them all, I asked Him to forgive them, and I am 
sure He did, mamma, because He said He would, and 
I felt so happy. Then I got into bed and did not feel 
a bit afraid of God any more." 

Charles Spurgeon remarks, " Without the heart, 
prayer is a wretched mockery." " Unless the heart 
speaks with God, thou hast done nothing for thine 
own good with all thy paternosters or other goodly 
words." And there is probably no sincere and earnest 
Christian who would not bear a similar testimony to 
the necessity of the heart accompanying any offering 
in the line of prayer. Yet it must not be overlooked, 
that earnest desire alone does not qualify for his service. 
There must also be the extension of Divine help en- 
abling the soul to spread its needs before the Lord, and 
teaching it how and when to pray ; for all true prayer 
is in and from the Holy Spirit.. 

The Memoir of Martha Routh contains an interesting 
illustration of the care of the Almighty Ruler over his 
children, and of the regard which He manifests to 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 81 

their sincere prayers. The incident shows also the de- 
ceitful nature of warlike stratagems, which have their 
origin in him who was a liar from the beginning. It 
occurred in 1794, when she was on her voyage from 
England to America, in the prosecution of a religious 
visit to the latter country. It was a time of warfare 
between England and France. She says : 

Our quietude was interrupted by information that 
a ship, about three miles to windward, had made a sig- 
nal of distress, and on its nearer approach, appeared to 
have lost part of its mainmast. Our captain laid to, in 
order to let her come up with us, with the humane in- 
tention of rendering assistance, which disposition I 
could not but commend, when men are at peace one 
with another. But at a time like this, I thought it 
required great clearness of judgment to know what 
was best to be done, and the little I felt was against 
stopping to aid that vessel, as it was possible that not 
only the appearance and the signal that was given, but 
much more, might be done treacherous!}' to decoy. 
When the captain perceived it was a ship of war, with 
two tiers of guns, he hoisted sail to make the best of 
his way, and their conduct did not wear a kind aspect, 
for they fired after us four times. Twice the balls came 
so near as to be heard whistling along the water. 

Though in feeling the attention of my mind drawn 
inward, I was somewhat renewedly strengthened and 
confirmed in a hope that no material harm would be 
suffered to reach us, yet it was a great trial of faith, 
and some I tenderly loved seemed to feel it so much 
that all within me was moved, and my soul bowed in 
supplication to our alone Almighty Helper, in like 
manner as when I was engaged in the congregation of 
his people, in the last meeting I sat in London, that we 
might be preserved out of the hands of unreasonable 
6 



82 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

men, which favor is still mercifully granted, for after 
our sails were set we had a fresh breeze, and they, see- 
ing we outsailed them, though not more than a mile 
distant, tacked about towards England and left us, for 
which, I believe, feeling minds were humbled in thank- 
fulness. 

In a little time we were quite becalmed, and had 
that been permitted at the critical juncture, they might 
have come up with us, for they were then not out of 
sight. 

About the year 1871, a Friend from one of the East- 
ern States visited a Western meeting, where she became 
strongly interested in the very apparent wants of some 
of its poor members, in respect of clothing, &c. Soon 
after this Friend's return to her own home, she collected 
both money and wearing apparel to forward to a rela- 
tive who lived near the meeting, for her to distribute 
among such of the members as she judged best. The 
apportionment and delivery of these were felt by the 
Friend to whom they were consigned, to be a respon- 
sible office. Tender feelings might be wounded by any 
indiscretion, and yet the mission required prompt and 
interested attention. 

Accordingly the consignee accompanied her husband 
one morning (early after the arrival of the goods) to 
meeting, calling, on their way, to see a poor, sick fam- 
ily, who she knew had then recently not only lost much 
of their property, but had also a sick son, nearly grown 
to manhood, suffering from frequent hemorrhages, so 
that he seemed to be drawing near to death and hast- 
ing, apparently, thither more rapidly for want of suit- 
able, warm clothing. The only daughter who could 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 83 

availingly aid them, had to leave her place of service 
to return home and care for her sick parents and the 
rest of the family, as seemingly their last outward re- 
source. 'Tie true the family had good reputation, so 
that, in their extremity, credit might be obtained at a 
store, but pay-clay would soon come around without 
any better ability to pay than now. 

In this state of things the mother heavily arose that 
morning to spread her cause before the Lord, and in- 
quire of Him the way to walk and obtain help, and she 
had continued nearly all the morn — until the strangers 
drove to the door — in frequent, earnest supplication for 
certain articles of comfort and need, especially a coat 
and flannel for her sick son, to preserve him from death, 
if possible. 

When coat and flannel and other warm articles were 
handed to her (just such or better than she had asked 
for), her manner became suddenly so reserved and dis- 
tant that the distributing Friend feared she was wounded 
— felt chilled in return — and when again alone with her 
husband, expressed strongly the disappointment and 
discouragement she felt at their manner of reception. 
However, her husband more wisely urged her to con- 
tinue her duty ; go on to the rest, and leave results. 
Within the following fortnight, this same sick Friend, 
looking more cheerful and relieved, called on the dis- 
tributor, bringing with her a nice can of fresh cream 
(the best earthly gift in the power of the afflicted woman 
to offer), and asked her acceptance of it as a present and 
token of gratitude. She was told this could not be re- 
ceived as a consideration for favors bestowed, though 



84 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

it would be bought if she wished to sell it, because she 
herself was a mere agent for others, and not the real 
donor, consequently acknowledgment was only due 
elsewhere, if made. The poor Friend then stated that, 
on the morning of the visit alluded to, the facts had 
occurred as already mentioned above, and that when 
she saw the very things handed to her for which she 
had so fervently petitioned her Heavenly Father in se- 
cret, her astonishment and gratitude for so immediate 
and complete an answer to her requests, so overwhelmed 
her that she felt speechless with wonder and adoration. 
Now she wished her present accepted, even though 
those who had been instrumental in helping her could 
not take it for themselves, so that at least word could, 
through them, be conveyed to her distant benefactors 
of her grateful appreciation of their kindness. 

Similar, though perhaps less striking, results at- 
tended some other parts of the distribution elsewhere, 
recalling the exhortation, " In the morning sow thy 
seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for 
thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or 
that, or whether they both shall be alike good." 

It may be added, that the son gradually improved 
from this time. Colds were avoided, and he matured 
into an active, useful man. The mother has since re- 
ceived her final summons to rest, and it is believed has 
been called up higher. 

This incident suggests a somewhat similar one, which 
is given in Words and Weapons. One morning, in the 
winter of 187-, a Christian woman, who had often dis- 
tributed to the necessities of the saints, sat alone in the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 85 

room where advanced age and the beginning of what 
proved to be her last illness, confined her. 

Roused from her meditation by the entrance of her 
daughter, she spoke of an aged couple, who she knew 
were poor, and who had been absent from their usual 
religious meeting, and feared they might be sick and 
in want. She requested her daughter to " take a bas- 
ket, call a cab, drive to the market, and buy a goodly 
supply of provisions and take it to them. As her 
daughter left the room, she handed her a thick flannel 
skirt, and said perhaps it would be as well to take that 
also, as the weather was cold and the old woman might 
need it. 

The daughter went, the provisions were bought, and 
at the head of the third flight of stairs in the tenement 
house to which she had been directed, she stopped 
short. Through the thin door she could hear a voice 
asking a blessing upon the food before them. 

At the conclusion of the grace, and smiling at what 
she now believed to be her mother's unnecessary anx- 
iety, she knocked and entered. Sure enough, there 
they were at dinner, the wife at foot of table, waiting 
to be helped, the husband at head, carving — one large 
apple, all the food they had ! 

With tears in her eyes, she drew forth her kindly 
stores, and while a comfortable meal was being pre- 
pared, she listened to their grateful thanks, and heard 
from uncomplaining lips their pitiful story — how they 
earned a precarious living as clear-starchers ; how the 
husband had been attacked by rheumatism and the wife 
by a felon; how, though utterly destitute, they had 



86 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

poured out before their God all their troubles, and how 
they had surely believed that He would send some one 
to help them. 

"When dinner was ready, and the visitor about to 
leave, the wife accompanied her to the door, and, with 
an expectant look, said, " My dear, did you bring the 

' flannel petticoat f" 

In the excitement of the entrance, the lady had quite 

I forgotten the skirt, which still lay in the bottom of the 
basket. Astonished at the question, she answered, 
" Yes, I brought you a skirt, but why did you think so?" 
" Because, clear," said the old saint, " when I told 
the Lord there was only an apple left, I told Him I 
needed a warm flannel petticoat, and I was only won- 

. dering whether you had it, or would He send it by some 

Vpne else." 

A number of years ago, in a Xew England town of 
some maritime importance, there resided a deacon who 
engaged in lucrative business. Although of prudent 
habits, his benevolence led him to become security to 
a large amount for one who had won his confidence as 
a Christian brother, but afterwards proved to be a de- 
signing knave. This issued in the good deacon's fail- 
ure, when, with scrupulous integrity, everything that 
could be claimed by his creditors was given up. A 
winter of great severity and of general business depres- 
sion followed. His wife and young children looked to 
him for subsistence which he knew not how to furnish, 
as his most diligent efforts for employment were unsuc- 
cessful. A debt incurred with no prospect of payment 
was, in his estimation, a sin ; and he sadly saw the 
little stock of provisions they possessed rapidly dimin- 
ishing, with no way to obtain more. He was a man 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 87 

of prayer as well as action, and carried the case to Him 
who feedeth the ravens. Yet long weary weeks passed, 
and no succor came. At length the morning dawned 
when the last stick of wood was on the fire, and little 
Hatty told her father that the candles were all gone ; 
" and how," asked she, " shall we take care of clear 
mamma to-night." 

The question went to the father's heart with dagger- 
like poignancy. The vision of his suffering wife, gasp- 
ing her life away in the last fearful stages of consump- 
tion, her comfortless sick room unwarmed, unlighted, 
and the thick darkness which he knew would enshroud 
her when made aware of the extent of their destitution, 
would have driven him to distraction were it not that 
he yet had hope in One mighty to save. He fled to his 
closet, and there in agony of prayer besought the Lord 
for help; and, forgetting all other wants, pleaded and 
pleaded again for the two articles now specially needed, 
specifying them with reiterated earnestness. He arose 
from his knees in full assurance of faith and with 
heavenly tranquillity, and w T ent forth expecting deliver- 
ance, looking for it, however, in but one way — through 
his own earnings. But after a fruitless day of seeking 
employment, he gloomily returned home. 

He entered his gate, and was startled to see before 
him a generous pile of wood. Little Johnny opened 
the door, clapping his hands, and exclaiming — 

"Oh, pa! we've got some wood and some candles!" 

"Where did you get them ? Are you sure they were 
not left here by mistake ?" 

"Oh no, pa!" interrupted Hatty, "they were not left 
by mistake. A man knocked at the door with his 
whip, and when I opened it, he asked if you lived here. 
I told him you did. Then he said, ' here are some 
candles and a load of wood for him.' 

"I asked him if you sent them, and he said, 'I rather 
guess your pa don't know anything about it.' 



88 FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMARKS. 

" Who did send them, then?" said I. 

"Oh," said he, "I musn't tell; but you may say to 
your father they are a present." 

But to what instrumentality they were indebted for 
the relief was a mystery. And what particularly inter- 
ested Deacon P. was the character of the anonymous 
presents ; that the very things so much needed, and no 
others, should be sent, and he was sure he had men- 
tioned his want of them to no human ear. 

He questioned the children anew. They described 
the man who knocked at the door, and the horse and 
truck he drove. A new thought struck him. "Why," 
said he, " that team belongs to my old enemy, Graff. 
Can it be possible that he is the donor. If so, surely 
the finger of God has touched his heart." Deacon P. 
was, however, so convinced that he was their bene- 
factor, that he resolved on an immediate call on that 
gentleman. 

But who was Graff? 

Some years before, the rest oi* the First-day of the 
week was openly violated by a brisk trade in fish. The 
hundreds of boatmen, sailors, and their friends engaged 
in this traffic were so potent in influence that nobody 
thought of risking interference. Deacon P., though a 
man of peace, was also a man of moral courage. He 
determined to put a stop to the iniquity. His friends 
warned him that his life would be endangered; but, at 
first alone, and then afterwards with a brother deacon, 
he would take a walk along the wharves of a First-day 
morning to ascertain who broke the law by traffic on 
that day. Men swore at him like fiends, fired his 
dwelling at several different times, and at last " bound 
themselves with an oath " to kill him. Yet they feared 
his presence, and at his approach stores would be de- 
serted of customers and closed with great celerity. 
This species of " Sabbath-breaking " was at last given 
up, after various hair-breadth escapes on the part of 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 89 

Deacon P. and his compatriots, the authorities being 
shamed into action by their fearless zeal. 

The brutal drunkenness of the sailors, and the degra- 
dation and suffering of their families with which Dea- 
con P. was, in this enterprise, brought into contact, 
opened his eyes to the evils of the liquor traffic; and, 
turning over his Sabbath reform to the legal authori- 
ties, he became known as a temperance advocate. 
This, also, brought him enemies, sometimes even 
changing friends into foes. Distiller Graff was among 
the latter, from a warm friend becoming bitterly alien- 
ated. In vain did the grieved deacon strive to concili- 
ate by explanation and personal kindness. 

Deacon P. entered the distillery of his old friend. 
Por the first time for years its proprietor looked up 
with a nod and smile of recognition. It was evident 
something unusual had softened his heart. 

"I have called," said the deacon, " to ask if you can 
tell me who sent some wood and candles to my house 
to-day ?" 

"Yes, sir; I sent them." 

"You are very kind; but, pray tell me how you 
came to do so." 

"But first let me inquire if you really needed 
them?" 

"Oh, I cannot express to you how much!" 

"Well, then, I suppose I must explain," said Graff. 
" It's all very singular and sometimes seems very fool- 
ish. This morning, about ten o'clock, as I was busy 
at my work, suddenly a voice seemed to say to me, 
^ send some wood to Deacon P.; he is in want!' I was 
astonished. I could not believe you needed it, and 
I could not send it to you of all others. I tried to 
banish the thought, and went to work again more 
earnestly. But the voice — it seemed within me — said 
again with painful distinctness, ' Send some wood to 
Deacon P. ; he is in want!' I scouted the idea as weak 



90 FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMARKS. 

and silly — a mere phantasy of the brain, but it was of 
no use; I had to succumb. The more I ridiculed and 
fought it, the more vivid and irresistible was the im- 
pression, until, to purchase peace, and in some awe, 
I confess, I bade John load his team with wood and 
leave it at your door. 

"For a moment I was at rest; but only for a mo- 
ment. The imperative whisper came, ' Send some can- 
dles." Said I to myself, ' This is too absurd. I will 
not gratify this whim ; J but again I was so beset with 
the mandate, and so distressed and baffled in repelling 
it, that, as a cheap way to get out of torment, I handed 
John a package of candles also. 

"This matter has been in my mind ever since. 
Sometimes I have thought it almost a freak of insanity, 
and then, again, such was the strange character of the 
impression, . so unexpected, so solemn and powerful, 
and such the singular peace following compliance 
with its dictates, that I almost believe it to be super- 
natural." 

" It is indeed the doings of Him who is wonderful in 
working," replied Deacon P. "It was about ten 
o'clock, I well remember, that I pleaded with God for 
the very articles you sent me, in an agony of wrestling 
I never knew before. It was then, too, that my soul 
was filled with the conviction that my prayer was heard 
and that relief would come." 

Since hearing a venerated relative relate this incident 
in his own life, we have often wondered how the sceptic 
can dispose of such occurrences. "While it would be 
presumption for the believer, in ordinary circumstances, 
to expect to live by prayer alone, or to be fed without 
his own co-operation, yet are there not events happen- 
ing all along the history of the Church, in the experi- 
ences of individual members, to be accounted for only 
on the ground of a special Providence, regardful of the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 91 

emergencies of the believing, suffering people of God ? 
Surely " light is sown for the righteous," and to them 

"The deepest dark reveals the starriest hope." 

Many are the incidents which have occurred, and to 
the unspeakable comfort of the reverent suppliants, in 
which the Lord has shown to his servants that He is 
a God hearing and answering prayer. 

In the Fourth Month of 1884, a writer sent a com- 
munication to the Tract Repository, which relates the 
following incident : — 

A few years since, the writer became possessor, by 
the will of a relative, of a sum of money to be dis- 
tributed at my discretion among those in limited or 
needy circumstances, as their condition might require. 

Shortly after it came under my control (and before 
I had taken much thought about who might be most 
in need), I felt on a certain evening, an unexpected, 
but clear impression, that on the next morning I must 
make a social visit to an intimate friend, a widow living 
in a neighboring State, whose humble home I could 
reach in a few hours. I had been intending for several 
weeks to make the visit, which had again and again 
been postponed on account of the various hindering 
things which will unavoidably occur to thwart our 
plans, and it did not therefore strike me as anything 
wonderful that I should so suddenly decide to accom- 
plish it, now that these seemed removed, and I could 
step in and perhaps add to her pleasure by the surprise 
such an unlooked for guest might be to her. Soon 
after concluding to take an early train next morning 
I seemed forcibly reminded of taking with me some 
of the money above alluded to, but hesitated, as I really 
did not know that she was in need of assistance. This 
I did know, that her income, at most, was small, and 



92 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

had been reduced by an unfortunate investment, a few 
years before. On consulting my husband, we concluded 
it best for me to take it, and if she had no use for it no 
harm could be done either by the offer or the refusal, 
and I felt satisfied that in her character she was so truly 
Christian that no offence would be taken at my seem- 
ing intrusion upon her own private affairs, of which at 
that time I knew but little. 

I reached her home a little before noon, found her 
alone, her only daughter being absent. The remainder 
of the day passed pleasantly, and as she was one of 
those cheerful, trusting ones, who looked on the bright 
side of things, fully believing that even our afflictions 
are our blessings, I saw no evidence of anything trou- 
bling her, and as I looked around her comfortable 
room, with everything really needful for her small 
family, though not containing a single unnecessary 
article, I almost regretted having replenished my purse 
on her account, and felt much hesitation about men- 
tioning the subject to her. 

But as evening closed in upon us, and we sat by her 
bright fire, I finally told her what I had done and why. 
I scarcely had time to finish before she burst into tears, 
and seemed so deeply affected that for some minutes 
she could not proceed with explaining why it was so. 
After expressing her gratitude in broken sentences, she 
went on to tell me how her heart had been pained the 
day before by receiving a letter from her only son, 
living in one of the Southern States, telling her that 
from various causes not within his control, he had be- 
come so reduced as to be unable to provide for his 
family, and that they were really in a suffering con- 
dition. 

She said she could neither eat nor sleep after hearing 
it, and added, " I earnestly prayed to my heavenly 
Father that He would be pleased to make a way by 
which I might obtain means to relieve my poor boy, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 93 

and liis helpless little ones, and now my prayer has 
been answered in a way so unexpected to me," with 
much which I cannot now recall, expressive of her 
gratitude to God for his great kindness to her and her 
children. 

I think it might truly be said that her petition was 
immediately granted, for it was made near the same 
time in the evening when it seemed so plainly to come 
before me that oil the morrow I must set out on my 
visit to her. 

A writer in the American Messenger gives the follow- 
ing touching narrative : — 

R was a poor widow. For several years she had 

labored hard to support herself and three children. 
At last, however, there came a day when she found 
herself unable to meet the demands upon her, for weak- 
ness and pain had followed the long days of incessant 
toil, and though work was plenty, she lacked the 
strength to complete it in time. Rent-day would come 
on the morrow, and food was needed for her little 
family. It was sad, indeed; and weary, and almost 
despairing, she bent her head over her work, and wept 
the bitterest tears of all her widowhood. Her little son 
tried to comfort her, and putting his arms about her 
neck, said, " Mamma, why do you cry? Had we not 
better pray?" Rebuked by the child's faith, she wiped 
away the tears, and replied, " True, Jamie, let us pray; 
and the God of the fatherless, who has been our help 
and refuge so long, will not forsake us." 

She immediately laid aside the unfinished work and 
went to her room. There she spent several hours in 
earnest prayer, laying before God all her weakness and 
need. Night came on, and calmed and comforted 
with the assurance of his faithfulness, she slept peace- 
fully. 



94 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

Early the next morning a barrel of flour was brought 
to her door, and scarcely had she time for joyful 
thanksgiving to God for his goodness, ere her heart 
was again gladdened by the appearance of a brother 
from whom she had not heard in many months. After 
the usual salutations, he inquired, "Did you just re- 
ceive a barrel of flour?" " Yes," she said. "Did you 
need it?" "Yes, indeed I did, and I expected it." 
" You expected it !" in astonishment. " Yes, for I have 
been asking God to move your heart in my behalf." 
And then followed the story of her past want and 
struggle, and present need. 

The strong man rose and paced the floor, while tears 
streamed from his eyes. At last, taking a seat beside 
her, he said, " I too have a story to tell. A few days 

since, I met E ■, your old friend. She said, 'When 

have you heard from Mary R V I replied, 'I have 

not heard lately, but mean to go and see her soon.' 
* Well,' she said, ' I have had a very singular dream 
about her, and I believe her to be in very straitened 
circumstances. I want you to go and see her to-day.' 
I said, ' I cannot go to-day, but will send her a barrel 
of flour.' 'That is just what I want you to do,' she 
replied; ' but I want you to go and see her.' I prom- 
ised to do so, but could not rest until I had sent the 
flour, and made up my mind to come immediately. 
I see that God has sent me." 

Before leaving, he gave her other substantial aid. 
The rent was paid, and comforts secured, which light- 
ened the load, and brought back a degree of comfort 
to the poor home. 

None can know but those who have cried unto God 
in their need and received according to his promise, 
the gratitude that filled her heart and overflowed upon 
her lips. God has been to her always a " present help 
in every time of trouble ; but never had the promises 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 95 

seemed so sure, or her faith, in God so strong, as on 
that night, when, leaving all care with Him, she had 
trusted herself also to the " everlasting arms." 

The Cynosure relates an incident which it heads "A 
Remarkable Providence : " 

A poor woman who had been washing for us said : 
" Seems as if the Lord took very direct ways of reach- 
ing people's feelings sometimes. Now, I was aston- 
ished once in my life. I lived away out West, on the 
prairie, me and my four children, and couldn't get 
much work to do, and our little stock of provisions 
kept getting lower and lower. One night we sat 
hovering over our fire, and I was gloomy enough. 
There was about a pint of corn meal in the house, and 
that was all. 'I said, 'Well, children, maybe the Lord 
will provide something.' ' I do hope it will be a good 
mess of potatoes,' said cheery little Nell ; ' seems to me 
I never was so hungry for 'taters before.' After they 
were asleep, I lay there tossing over my hard bed, and 
wondering what I would do next. All at once the 
sweetest peace and rest came over me, and I sank into 
such a good sleep. Next morning I was planning that 
I would make the tinful of meal into mush and fry it 
in a greasy fry-pan. As I opened the door to go down 
to the brook to wash, I saw something new. There on 
the bench, beside the door, stood two wooden pails and 
a sack. One pail was full of meat, the other full of 
potatoes, and the sack rilled with flour. I brought my 
hands together in my joy, and just hurrahed for the 
children to come. Little dears ! They didn't think of 
trousers and frocks then, but came out all of a flutter, 
like a flock of quails. Their joy was supreme. They 
knew the Lord had sent some of his angels with the 
sack and pails. Oh, it was such a precious gift ! I 
washed the empty pails, and put the empty sack in one 



96 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

of them, and at night I stood them on the bench where 
I found them, and the next morning they were gone. 
I tried and tried to find out who had befriended us, 
but I never could. The Lord never seemed so far after 
that time," said the poor woman looking down with 
tearful eyes. 

The little hamlet of V had suffered terribly by 

the flood. Somewhat removed from the main lines of 
travel, and consisting only of a dozen or more scattered 
cottages, it had been reached by no relief boats or other 
aid. All this, however, made it none the less hard for 
the farmers, whose resources were now at the low- 
est ebb. 

On the particular Seventh-day evening, some of the 
neighbors had collected at the post-office, and were 
gloomily discussing the prospects. One after another 
told his sad story of want and destitution. There were 
children at home crying for bread : sick people there 
were — shivering; starving people. What should be 
done? Everybody for miles in either direction was 
nearly or quite as badly off as themselves. They sepa- 
rated, and went to their several homes without a word 
of cheer. 

The next day, First-day, a few men and women met 
for prayers. "0 God,' ? they cried, brokenly, " Thou 
who makest Thy angels spirits, and Thy ministers a 
flaming fire, send us help ! send us help ! " 

Now it often turns out that God begins to answer 
our prayers before we offer them. So it was in this 
case. While that little knot of sufferers had been 
hopelessly discussing and dismissing one plan after 
another, the night before, Molly Bean had crept in, 
unseen by the rest, and, crouching behind a barrel, had 
listened intently to all that was said. Molly was not 
a prepossessing child. She had sandy hair, many 
freckles, and no eyebrows to speak of. She was bare- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 97 

foot, and her thin wrists came out far beyond the ragged 
sleeves of her dress. Her one beauty was in her eyes, 
which were of a soft reddish brown, like the deer's, 
and which shone like stars when a tear glistened in 
them, which happened this very night; for one of the 
helpless, wailing little babies referred to, was in Molly's 
wretched home — was Molly's wee, wee brother. 

As she listened she made up her mind. Without a 
word, she crept out of the building, looked nervously 
over her shoulder with those big wild eyes of hers, then 
shot off into the darkness like a startled doe. * * * 

First-day evening was a quiet one in the great city 
terminus of the Ohio and X. Y. Railroad. The presi- 
dent of the corporation sat in his comfortable office, his 
feet on the fender of a glowing grate, and a cloud of 
thin, blue cigar smoke encircling his head. It had 
been a good year for the road, and a handsome divi- 
dend was assured for the stockholders. The president 
felt so very contented over this reflection, that he was 
almost dropping into an easy nap, when a sharp knock 
at the door started his eyes wide open. 

"Come in ! " he called. 

A tall, brown-bearded man entered, leading what 
with some difficulty could be made out to be a little 
girl. The president glanced at her bare feet, which 
were covered with mud high above the ankles, and 
frowned. Then he met the appealing look in the little 
creature's brown eyes, and relented. 

" Well, Mr. Everton, what now ? Who have you 
picked up?" 

" Tell your story, my dear," said the tall man, 
kindly, to his small companion, drawing up a chair 
for her. 

u Please, sir, I'm Molly Bean, and I've come from 

Y ter git some milk fer Jinks, and somethin' fer 

dad, and — and — ". Molly swallowed hard, and went 
on : " The water's drowned everything, please sir, and 
7 



98 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

the cow's gone, an* — an' — nobody's come." Here she 
broke down in good earnest, and sobbed in her poor 
little thin hands. 

"How did she get here?" inquired the president, 
uneasily, forgetting to puff at his cigar. 

The tall man (who was the city missionary) pointed 
silently to her muddy feet, cut and bruised as well, with 
her journey by night and day. 

"You don't mean she walked all the way — forty-one 
miles .'" 

The other nodded. "I've given her something to 
eat and let her rest half an hour at the rooms. She 
would'nt stay longer." 

The president half turned, and touched an ivory 
knob — while the cigar went out entirely. A man in 
brass buttons appeared at the office door, and waited 
respectfully. 

"Has No. 5 Freight got in ? " 

"Due in rive minutes, sir! telegraphed just outside 
the yard." 

" Tell Andy not to draw his fire, but report to me at 
once as soon as he's in." 

The man withdrew. A few moments later he reap- 
peared with the engineer, covered with soot and oil. 
The result of the conference was that within an hour 
a locomotive was puffing slowly out of the freight yard, 
with no car attached, but having in its tender, besides 
a fresh supply of fuel and water, several large packages, 
evidently containing flour, milk, canned meats, and 
such other provisions as could be got together in so 
short a time. In the cab were four people — the engi- 
neer, the fireman, Mr. Everton, and a small freckle- 
faced girl with no eyebrows to speak of. 

Once out upon the clear line, how that old engine 
did leap to her work ! Flashing out great floods of light 
as the fireman piled her fire-box with shovelful after 
shovelful of coal, panting with huge gasps from her 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 99 

iron lungs, throbbing and quivering in every nerve, she 
roared on through the night, bearing her precious load 
to the weary and starving, who thought their Father 
in heaven had forgotten them. On and on, scattering 
storms of sparks on every side, calling out shrilly as 
she dashed past the small way-stations, until, with two 

sharp, exultant cries, "I've come!" she slowed up 

at the depot nearest V . 

Before morning, there was rejoicing in the little town 
~by the river. The kind missionary stopped long enough 
to leave many a word of comfort and good cheer — and 
Molly looked at it all with her soft brown eyes, and 
wondered why everybody was so kind to her. " She 
was some tired" she admitted, "but what could she 
do? Thar' was dad, and thar' was Jinks, an' " — 

" There was God" said the missionary, smiling. 

Dr. W. F. Besser, pastor of Waldenburg, in Upper 
Silesia, in his Practical Commentaries, relates the fol- 
lowing incident, which occurred not far from the place 
where he resides. 

In a cleft of a mountain range in Upper Silesia, 
through which the wild and raging Neisse forces its 
passage down to the Oder, stands the impregnable 
Prussian fortress of Glatz, a natural fastness, almost 
unequalled in the world, begirt with mountain-peaks 
like walls, and fortified yet more by human skill. The 
valley itself is shut out from the rest of the world; and 
one who is enclosed by the massive walls and gratings 
of the castle is an exile from the world, as if buried 
alive. Woe to the man imprisoned in Glatz ! Every- 
thing calls out to him, " ~No hope remains for thee ! no 
hope!" 

Here, in the second decade of this century, lay the 

"Count of M , hitherto petted and followed; now 

hopelessly immured behind bolts and bars. By treason 



100 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

against the realm, and especially by personal violence 
offered to Frederic "William III, of Prussia, he had 
drawn down the rage of that monarch on his head, and 
was condemned to solitary imprisonment for life. For 
a whole year he lay in his frightful, lonely cell, without 
one star of hope in either his outer or inner sky ; for 
he was a sceptic. They had left him only one book — 
a Bible; and this for a long time he would not read; 
or if forced to take it up to kill time and relieve his 
consuming weariness, it was only read with anger, and 
gnashing of teeth against the God it reveals. 

But sore affliction, that dreadful and yet blessed 
agent of God, which has brought the Good Shepherd 
many a wandering sheep, was effectual with the Count 

M . The more he read his Bible, the more he felt 

the pressure of the gentle hand of God, on his forlorn, 
hopeless heart. 

One rough and stormy November night, when the 
mountain gales howled around the fortress, the rain fell 
in torrents, and the swollen and foaming Xeisse rushed 
roaring down the valley, the count lay sleepless on his 
cot. The tempest in his breast was as fearful as that 
without. His whole past life rose before him ; he was 
convinced of his manifold shortcomings and sins ; he 
felt that the source of all his misery lay in his forsaking 
God. For the first time in his life his heart was soft r 
and his eyes wet with tears of genuine repentance. He 
rises from his cot, opens his Bible, and his eyes fall on 
Psalm L : 15, "Call upon me in the day of trouble ; I will 
deliver thee; and thou shalt glorify Me." This word 
reaches the depths of his soul; he falls on his knees for 
the first time since he was a child, and cries to God for 
mercy ; and that gracious and compassionate God, who 
turns not away from the first movement of faith to- 
wards him, heard the cry of this sufferer in the storm- 
beaten dungeon of Glatz, and gave him not only 
spiritual but temporal deliverance. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMAKKS. 101 

The same night, in his castle at Berlin, King Frederic 
William III, lay sleepless in bed. Severe bodily pains 
tormented him, and in his utter exhaustion he begged 
of God to grant him a single hour of refreshing sleep. 
The favor was granted; and when he woke again he 
said to his wife, the gracious Louise, "God has looked 
upon me very graciously, and I may well be thankful 
to Him. Who in my kingdom has wronged me most? 
I will forgive him." 

" The Count of M ," replied Louise, " who is 

imprisoned at Glatz." 

"You are right," said the sick king; "let him be 
pardoned." 

Day had not dawned over Berlin ere a courier was 
despatched to Silesia, bearing to the prisoner in Glatz, 
pardon and release. The prayer of penitential faith 
had been heard, and deliverance was granted by the 
providence of God. 

And the God of our fathers still lives ; He hears the 
€ry of his children, and many times He answers even 
before we rightly call upon Him. Now, as in ages 
past, the Lord looks down from heaven to behold the 
sighing of the prisoner, and to loose his bonds ; and 
still, as of old, the king's heart is in the hands of the 
Lord, and He turneth it, as the conduits of water are 
turned. Let us make Him our refuge, and confide in 
his power with an abiding and unshaken trust. 

True prayer is communion with God. He who be- 
lieves that God " is a rewarder of them that diligently 
seek Him," will be led to appeal to Him in all emer- 
gencies, and to implore his aid. But this fervency in 
spirit will not lead him to be " slothful in business," or 
to neglect a proper exertion on his own part. 

In a seamen's prayer-meeting in New York, one of 
the speakers thanked God that he had been a sailor. 



102 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

He had been in some tight places at sea, but he never 
hid his religion or lost his confidence in God. He had 
learned to call on God in trouble, and had not been 
disappointed. But then faith must be joined with, 
practice, praying only, without using effort is not 
enough. 

"We were once," said he, "driven to great straits in 
a gale. The wind blew a perfect hurricane, and our 
ship sprung a leak. It seemed as if we must go to the 
bottom in a few minutes. Our men worked hard at 
the pumps. The water gained on us. Death stared us 
in the face. I ran down below, and on my knees asked 
Jesus to save us, and give me a token. I opened my 
Bible, lying before me, and Isaiah xli : 10 met my eyes. 
The words, the first I saw, were these, 'Fear not thou, 
for I am with thee. Be not thou dismayed, for I am 
thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; 
yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my 
righteousness.' 

" That was enough. I ran on deck and told the men. 
I said : Men, we are going somewhere, but we are not 
going down : I reported to them what I had asked of 
the Lord, and how He had answered me. Xow, said 
I, ' men, pump and pray, and pray and pump !' And 
they did it with a will, and we pumped and prayed our 
vessel into Cork, as I believe, in answer to prayer and 
promise." 

But what is the use of praying, with a leak in the 
ship, without pumping ! It must ever be work and 
pray, and pray and work, and the best workers are 
those who pray most fervently. 

Very similar to this incident is an anecdote told of 
some children in Madagascar: 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 103 

In a rather lonely country district some children 
were captured and taken away from their homes, to be 
sold as slaves. The bad men who had taken them were 
afraid to go near a village with the children, lest they 
should be discovered, and the children be released. 
But where to get food without going to a village, they 
did not know. 

At last they decided they must leave the children in 
some safe place where they could not escape, whilst 
they went to get a supply of food. So they found a 
deserted village with a thick hedge of stakes all around 
it, where they left the children, having first blocked up 
the gate securely. 

As soon as the men were gone the children began to 
look around and see if they could find any way to 
escape. By putting some clods of earth against the 
stockade, they managed, after a great deal of trouble 
and hard work, to climb over and so get out. 

As soon as they were safely outside, one of them 
said, " Now let us kneel down and thank God for 
having saved us;" but an older one said, "No, we are 
still in great danger, for the men may see us, and we 
must run as fast as Ave can so that. we may not be caught 
again. Let us thank God while we run." 

So with thankful little hearts they ran along till they 
were out of the way of the robbers, and got safely home 
again. 

Many years ago, in Northern Minnesota, there was 
a long and severe winter, and the Indians had nearly 
exhausted their winter's supply of food. And, because 
of the severity of the winter, game was very scarce. 

In one family, the father had watched with anxious 
heart the decreasing supply, without the possibility of 
adding anything thereto. He had never heard of the 



104 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

Christian's God, but He did know of the Great Spirit, 
whom the red man worshipped. 

J At last the supply was exhausted, and very soon his 
children would be crying for food. And in his anguish 
of spirit he sought a secluded place, and bowed before 
the Great Spirit, and in the simplicity of his heart, told 
Him his great need. He told Him how helpless he 
was. There seemed to be no way by which he could 
do anything to supply that need, and that he was 
wholly dependent upon a higher power than himself. 
He arose from that place of prayer refreshed and confi- 
dent that in some way his needs would be supplied. 

Taking his gun he went out into the forest, but 
there were no signs of game, not even a track in the 
snow, but he pressed on until his heart began to sink 
within him, lest the Great Spirit had not heard him 
after all. But while he was thinking on these things 
his keen eye discovered a movement in some brush at 
a distance from him. He secreted himself and watched 
with intense interest. Had the moment of his deliver- 
ance come ? Soon a large moose emerged from the 
brush and came directly toward him. Waiting until 
the moose was within easy range, he fired and the ani- 
mal fell dead at his feet. His prayer was answered 
and the great need was supplied and he did not forget 
to thank the Great Spirit for his goodness. 

In an old number of The Independent there is an arti- 
cle by Tryon Edwards, of Gouverneur, N. Y., on " pray- 
ing always." 

What is meant by this? What is it to be "praying 
always ?" 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 105 

The anecdote is told of a young minister of high 
promise, who died at an early age, that, one day, a 
friend, on entering his room to get a book, found him 
on his knees in prayer, and when he apologized for 
having disturbed him, the other quietly replied: "It 
doesn't matter at all, for prayer is so much a part of 
one's life, that a little interruption like this, makes no 
difference." And his friend and biographer says: 
"His life seems to have been a great continued prayer, 
his thoughts always going up to heaven in silent sup- | 
plication, from a heart abiding in the will of God." 

"What a blessed spirit, flowing out and going forth, 
like a living stream, in the heavenly channel of a holy 
habit! Is not this the true spirit of real prayer; what 
the apostle meant by "praying without ceasing," "con- 
tinuing instant in prayer," and "praying always, withr 
all prayer and supplication," and what the blessed] 
Saviour meant by saying, that "man ought always to 
pray, and not to faint? " If we enter into the true and ' 
full spirit of prayer, should not our thoughts, at all 
times, be going forth in communion with God, in 
acknowledging his greatness and excellence, in thank- 
ing Him for his ceaseless mercies, in asking blessings 
for ourselves and others, in committing ourselves every 
hour to his guidance, and in praying for the extension 
of his kingdom to the ends of the earth ? Is not prayer 
— the living spirit of prayer— the very breath of the 
renewed soul? And like the breathing of the body 
through the lungs, does it not, with the spiritual 
Christian, go on almost unconsciously and in all cir- 
cumstances of life, rising not merely from the retire- 



106 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

ment of the closet, but in the meditation of the night 
watches, in the intervals of business, and on the walk 
by the way? Are there not only at times "groanings 
that cannot be uttered," but sweet and joyous com- 
munings with God which are uttered only in the 
thoughts that wing them to Heaven? 

" Prayer," says one, " is quite as much aspiration as 
verbal petition." And another says, "It has full right 
to the word ineffable; for there are outpourings of the 
soul that words cannot express — an interior speech of 
the heart which utters no sound, but speeds the more 
swiftly to the throne of God." And good old John 
Bunyau tells us of "the heart praying without words," 
when it is most full of real prayer. And " in the pre- 
cept to pray always" says Archbishop Trench, there is 
nothing of exaggeration, nothing commanded that may 
not be fulfilled, when we understand prayer to be the 
continual desire of the soul after God ; having indeed 
its times of intensity — seasons of an intense concentra- 
tion of the spiritual life — but not confined to those 
times, since the whole life of the faithful Christian 
should be, in the beautiful words of Origen, 'One great 
connected prayer.'' " And so good old Dr. Donne tells us, 
"that the soul that is accustomed to direct itself to God 
on every occasion, and which, as a flower at sunrising, 
conceives a sense of God in every beam of his, and 
spreads itself in thankfulness for every blessing He 
sheds upon it — that soul prays sometimes when it does 
not know that it prays." And in the same spirit, 
Augustine says, that " longing desire prays always, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 107 

even though the tongue be, silent," and that " if we are 
ever longing, we are ever praying." 

We read of an excellent woman in humble life, who, 
when spoken to by her pastor on the subject of prayer, 
meekly replied, that, with all her incessant toil and 
labor, she found but little time for the closet ; but she 
added, u If I am washing, I pray, in thought, that my 
soul may be washed from sin by the blood of Christ; 
if sweeping the floor, that my heart may be cleansed 
by the Holy Spirit : if eating my plain meal, that I may 
be fed by the Word of God ; if weary, that I may find 
rest in Jesus ; if diligent with my daily toil, that I may 
be diligent and faithful in the Divine life ; if trying to 
provide for the wants of my family, that all my wants, 
both temporal and spiritual, may be provided for by 
my covenant-keeping God and Redeemer, and that 
He will receive me at last to the blessed family of 
Heaven." 

In this spirit one may be always praying, not only as 
Cecil says, " by finding parentheses for prayer, even in 
the busiest hours," but by associating every form of 
business or pleasure, or daily avocation of any kind, 
with the up-going of the soul in prayer and communion 
with God, asking his presence and guidance and bles- 
sing at every step of our way. And if this be our 
spirit, then we may truly say : — 

" Though once I sought in time and place 
For solitude and prayer, 
Yet now, where'er I find thy face, 
I find a closet there." 

Holding fast thus to prayer, we hold fast to Christ ; 



108 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMABKS. 

and holding fast to Him we are forever safe and blessed. 
»" He that knows thus to pray," says William Jay, "has 
N the secret of safety in prosperity, and of support in 
trouble ; the art of overcoming every enemy, and of 
turning every loss into a gain; the power of soothing 
every care, of subduing every passion, and of adding 
relish to every enjoyment. The merchandise of it is 
better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain 
thereof, than fine gold." 

£Tot till life is over will the whole answer to such 
prayer be given, or its whole strength be understood, 
or the full safety and blessedness it has brought us be 
fully known and felt, as it then will be in perfect bles- 
sedness of Heaven ! 

Anna Shipton relates that when at one time living 
in a dreary residence among the Swiss mountains, she 
felt an unusual longing for the society of Christian 
friends. She says : 

One sultry evening, more oppressed than before, I 
prayed the Lord, that if He had any amid these wild 
mountains whom I could cheer or help, or with whom 
I could take sweet counsel, He would send them ; for 
my way, from circumstances too complicated for this 
brief notice, was peculiarly trying. 

So confident did I feel that He would answer the cry 
of his lonely child, that I rose from my knees, and de- 
scended the steps of the terrace on which the chalet was 
built, to wait for some one sent me from God. I had 
not long to wait. Slowly winding up the mountain 
pathway, a group was visible. As it approached, it 
proved to be a litter, in which was a lady, and by her 
side a young and graceful girl; they halted beneath 
the wide-spreading sycamore trees. The attendants 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 109 

retreated, and a table of refreshment was spread. 
When they had partaken of coffee, I advanced toward 
them, not for a moment doubting that my prayer was 
answered. 

The elder lady was of middle age, with a counte- 
nance of great intellectual refinement, but bearing 
traces of sorrow and sickness. Her simple, gracious 
bearing, marked her at once of a rank in life perhaps 
the least accessible. The younger, whom she after- 
wards introduced to me as her daughter, accosted me 
with a frank courtesy quite in harmony with her ap- 
pearance, and opened the conversation in English with 
an accent unusually pure. At her request we continued 
it in French. 

I spoke of Jesus at once — of the risen life, of the 
loving cup which, drunk with Him who gives it, leaves 
a blessing behind — and the tears of the lady fell fast, 
while she looked in my face with a strange expression 
of wonder, and begged me to take a seat by her side. 
Ears were opened to hear, and my tongue was unloosed 
to tell of this very present Lord who was dead and is 
alive again, and behold He is alive for evermore. 

Time went rapidly by, and the shadows were falling 
from the mountains before the litter was prepared for 
the departure of the God-sent guests. I accompanied 
them a short distance on their way. On parting they 
begged me to visit them at the chateau which was be- 
yond the mountain. " For whom shall I enquire ? " 

The elder replied, " The Princess ; " at the same 

time, through the daughter, giving me her address. 

After bidding me farewell, the younger lady returned, 
and pressing my hand, thanked me for the words I had 
spoken, saying in a voice of deep emotion, " You have 
done my mother much good in speaking to her of 
eternal things." 

Many a day, when there arise recollections of my 
wanderings and mountain rests, my heart asks for a 



110 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

blessing on the Princess and her gentle daughter. This 
was not the only time of our meeting, but it is enough 
to prove the sympathy of our Lord in the cry of the 
lonely, and the desire to serve Him. 

In The Christian a narrative is given of how an athe- 
ist was taught to pray : 

In the summer of 1876 two young men left a fishing 
vessel on the Grand Banks, and started in a boat for 
the outer buoy, about a mile away, to take in the 
" trawl." One of these young men had lived for years 
in open rebellion against God, and in steadfast opposi- 
tion to Christ. He had no faith in prayer or in the 
Bible, and had no desire to be troubled with religious 
thoughts and considerations. Rejecting the proposals 
which his father had made him for a settlement in life, 
he had loved pleasure and gone deliberately after sin. 
He had abandoned his home, taken to the sea, and 
proposed to cut loose from all restraint and follow such 
a course of sinful indulgence as his unholy instincts 
inclined him to pursue. He had convinced himself 
that there was no God, and having cast off fear, he was 
running deliberately in the ways of death. 

They started from the vessel, apprehending little 
danger, but before they had gone far a dense fog settled 
down upon them, and they were aware that they were 
lost. They could not find their way back to the vessel, 
they could not tell the points of the compass, and they 
knew not which way to row. They were out on one 
of the most unfrequented portions of the Grand Banks, 
and were well aware that fully one-third of the persons 
who thus get lost never find their way back to their 
ships, and they felt that their situation was by no means 
enviable. 

The day passed away and darkness settled down 
upon them. Morning came, and night, but still the 
same dense fog hung over them, and no way of escape 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. Ill 

was opened. For seven long days and nights they 
remained on board their little boat, without food or 
shelter, without sufficient clothing, and exposed to the 
cold and damp by day and night. They were wearied, 
exhausted, benumbed. Their feet were frozen. The 
young man's companion became insane from exposure, 
hunger and thirst, and the skeptic had abundant op- 
portunity to look his skepticism full in the face,' and see 
just how much it was worth in time of need. 

Hungry, helpless and despairing, beyond the reach 
of -any human arm, what could he do but turn to God 
for aid? And so, having sufficiently canvassed the 
matter in his mind, he at last confessed that he believed 
in God, and turned to Him as his only refuge, and 
prayed for help and that they might have rain. 

Before morning a shower came. He spread his tar- 
paulin jacket and caught the descending drops, and 
drank them with such a relish as he had never known 
before. Water at last had come, and he believed that 
it had come in answer to prayer. 

It then dawned upon him that there is no limit to 
the power and willingness of God to help the needy, 
and that if there was a vessel within a radius of fifty 
miles God knew it, and could easily guide them to it 
notwithstanding the fog. So, before the morning of 
the eighth clay broke, he prayed to God for guidance 
and waited for the day. Then, under a distinct and 
conscious impression, he began to row in a certain di- 
rection. He persuaded his companion to unite with 
him, and they bent to the oars for some two hours, 
until his companion was exhausted, then he rowed 
alone for about six or eight hours with all the energy 
he could command, though faint and weary and hun- 
gry. At length, at the close of the eighth day, his 
strength exhausted and the fog still hanging over them, 
he prayed again — prayed for clear weather and for a 
vessel within easy reach. Then followed another weary 



112 FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMARKS. 

night of waiting, but before dawn the wind had died 
and the fog had rolled back and was massed in heavy 
clouds upon the horizon. At dawn they saw a vessel 
some four miles away, and, with their little remaining 
strength, they pulled until they came alongside, and 
on the morning of the ninth day were taken on board a 
French vessel, carefully nourished, and, in due time, he 
was restored to health and to home. Within a few 
hours after they reached this vessel, the fog settled 
down, and did not lift for several days. 

The young man's plans for a life of vice and sin 
were now frustrated. He was no longer an able-bodied 
man. Exposure, thirst and exhaustion had reduced 
his strength and incapacitated him for the life of a sea- 
man, which he had chosen, so he obtained a temporary 
position on shore, but was not yet willing to yield his 
heart to God nor perform the vows he had made in 
the hour of anguish and distress. He relapsed into un- 
belief, and months passed away before he acknowledged 
that God had so mercifully preserved him. 

But God taught him his first lesson, and the time 
soon came for the second and more important one. 
One morning in 1877 he happened to attend a religious 
service, and at the close he remained, scarcely knowing 
the reason why, and engaged in conversation with a 
gentleman, whose sincerity as a Christian he scoffed at, 
and ridiculed all religious things. The gentleman asked 
him if he did not think it his duty to become a Chris- 
tian. 

"No!" he replied. " Xot if I do not believe in 
Christianity, and I certainly do not. You would not 
ask a man to believe what he does not believe." 

" Don't you believe the Bible ?" 

" Xo," was the reply : " not half of it." 

" "Well, all that you need is faith." 

This impressed him as being a very strange remark. 
" Certainly," he said, " I see if I only had faith, I would 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 113 

be the same as you are, or other Christians. But there 
is where the difficulty is, it is impossible for me to be- 
lieve against reason." 

" Do you believe that God would give you faith if 
you asked Him for it ?" 

The suddenness of this question startled him. It 
opened up an entirely new view of the whole situation 
to his mind. His memory at once reverted to his de- 
liverance on the occasion when, in temporal distress, 
he had prayed, and God had heard him and had an- 
swered his prayer. He recalled his promises to God 
at that time, promises unfulfilled and broken. He was 
candid with himself for once, and confessed to himself 
that he did believe in God and in the efficacy of prayer. 

" Well," said he, " won't you ask Him ?" 

He turned to his friend and said, "I will." 

They prayed together. His broken prayer was sim- 
ply this : 

" Oh, Lord, show me thy way." 

And the Lord did show him. 

A party of Scottish covenanters were once gathered 
together on the hillside to worship God in their own 
way, which was not then permitted by the law of the 
land, when the alarm was given that the soldiers were 
approaching. They knew that they could expect no 
mercy from the troopers, but would probably be ridden 
over, or shot, or cut down, in cold blood, just where 
they were. Some of them were stout and strong men, 
but they were unarmed, whilst the greater number 
consisted of weak and helpless women and children, 
besides an infirm and aged minister. Defense and flight 
were alike impossible. What should they do? They 
gave themselves unto prayer, and cried unto God that 
He would save and deliver them, that He would hide 
them under the covering of his wings. And their cry 
was heard. Whilst the dragoons were yet at a little 

8 



114 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

distance, there came rolling over the hills and along 
the hollow* a thick, white, blinding mist, which shrouded 
and concealed everything, and enfolded the little com- 
pany in its embrace and hid them. They themselves 
kept silent, and soon discovered from the noise and 
shouting, the oaths and curses of the troopers, that 
they had lost their way. The commander of the troopers 
now thought only of the safety of his men and horses, 
and when, after casting about for some time, they at 
length found the track, the word was given, and they 
rode off at a quick trot. a$o sooner were they all out 

of sight than the mist rolled off again, the sun shone 

© © ■ 

forth, and those who had been kept by God and hidden, 
as it were, under the shadow of his hand, sang praises 
unto Him for their great deliverance. 

When G. W. "Walker was travelling in South Africa, 
he called on a settler named Richard Hulley, who re- 
lated the following circumstance in his own experieuce : 

He had been with a convivial party, not being at that 
time an awakened character, and had given way to 
excesses. Going shortly after to obtain some honey 
for a sick acquaintance, he climbed a tree in which was 
a bees' nest, and a branch gave way with him, so that 
he was precipitated to the ground. Two of his ribs 
were broken and he was otherwise much injured, so as 
to bring on high fever, and ultimately tetanus or lock- 
jaw. He was lying on his bed one night, having been 
for nearly a fortnight without sleep, and fully antici- 
pating death to be very near, when his mind became 
awfully impressed with the danger he was in, both as 
regarded soul and body, feeling assured that, if he died 
in no better condition, his soul would be lost forever. 
Under deep convictions for sin, he contrived to roll him- 
self out of bed, and getting upon his knees, prayed to 
God, in an agony of distress, to look down upon him 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 115 

in mercy. "While thus engaged, he thought a voice spoke 
intelligibly to his spiritual ear, saying, Persevere, and as 
he maintained for some time this earnest exercise before 
the Lord, he felt himself cured of his lockjaw and of 
his injuries. Overcome with joy, and hardly daring to 
believe his senses, he turned himself around and around, 
and felt his ribs with his hands until assured that he 
was effectually healed, when he again got into bed, and 
with a heart overflowing with gratitude, and the tears 
streaming down his cheeks, lay praising God, who, by 
his wonderful power, had wrought such a deliverance. 
All this time he remained under great excitement, and 
had no disposition to sleep. But, as he was looking to 
the Lord, and praising Him for his mercy, the same 
voice that had before spoken to him, inciting him to 
persevere in prayer, now sounded in his ears the words, 
Peace, be still ; upon which he felt a capacity to stay 
his mind, in quietness and reverent thankfulness, upon 
God, and fell into a sound sleep, which lasted till morn- 
ing. On awaking, he arose, dressed himself and weut 
about his usual avocations in perfect health and with a 
mind renewed and changed, determining thenceforth 
that he would serve his Redeemer in righteousness, 
and from that period he has maintained a consistent 
Christian course. 

From the Christian Cynosure we copy the following 
touching narrative of one of the experiences of Stephen 
M. Edgill, a member of a Congregational Church at 
St. Louis : — 

Ten years ago I met this man in St. Louis. He was 
a layman in Pilgrim church, which had then a great 
building, but only little more than one hundred mem- 
bers. Earlier, when the church was in its infancy, he 
used, himself, to carry bundles of kindlings and bas- 
kets of coal to the chapel, and fill the .lamps, to save 



116 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

the feeble flock the cost of a sexton. I had not been 
long out of the seminary, and with others can never 
forget his helpful way with young ministers who some- 
times stood in Pilgrim pulpit. I had heard of his 
benevolence, sometimes amounting to tens of thousands 
in a single year, of his modest, unobtrusive way of 
helping the poor and needy, of his pure life unspotted 
by the world, of his business integrity, the motto of the 
commercial centre where he had lived for almost half 
a century. But one incident in his life is more to me 
than all else that may be said of him, now that he is 
gone. His pastor, Dr. Goodell, was in Europe, his 
family away, and his associates in business, occupied. 
At such a time I received a pressing invitation to come 
and see him alone in his room. "When we were 
seated, the doors being closed and the curtains drawn, 
he said: 

"You know the troubles in the business world?" 

"Yes." 

"Did it ever occur to you that while so many others 
are going down, I might fail ?" 

"No." 

" Please look over these papers." 

We spent over an hour on this. At its close, he 
said : 

" Now you see how it is. I have been helping these 
men in other cities, carrying them to save their credit, 
as I hoped. They have failed or at least suspended 
payment. They have my money. Stocks have gone 
down to almost nothing. I cannot see beyond the 
next five days. It may not be utter ruin but it looks- 
like it now." 

Though usually a man of few words, he talked for 
a long time about these fearful possibilities — of that 
dreadful, ill-matched pair, old age and want. At last 
he said : 

" You know that I have each year set aside one- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 117 

tenth of my income for the Lord, and given it freely. 
You know that I have often gone beyond that. I 
thought I was sincere in it but God may have seen 
pride and selfishness, where I suspected it not." 

There I interrupted him. I could not bear to hear 
that. I knew it was not so, for a purer, humbler man 
I had not known. But he went on : 

" When I was converted, I said, Now I cannot speak 
in meeting as others can. I cannot pray as others do, 
I have no such talent, but I will make money for the 
Lord and pray in secret. I will stand in my place 
and do what I can. But see how it has come out — 
and—" 

All this time he had restrained his feeling and held 
back the tears, but when he only half mentioned the 
name of the loved one, the light of his home, he broke 
down and wept aloud. 

"But what is to be done, what can I do ?" 

" Pray." 

And there with the stocks and notes and accounts 
before us we knelt down, and as did Hezekiah of old, 
this man spread it all out before heaven and talked to 
God about it as a child talks to its mother. I never 
heard such a prayer before, and perhaps shall never 
again. Then we were silent for a long time. When 
he arose his face was as the face of an angel. Jacob 
had met his Lord at the Jabbok and prevailed. God 
had sent his angel of peace. His tears were falling like 
rain but they were tears of joy now. 

" I do not know just how, but it is surely coming out 
all right," he said. 

It was my turn then, and I proposed a praise- 
meeting. 

He read a psalm from the Bible, which he kept 
always in his desk. 

Now, one may have what theories he chooses about 
special answer to prayer. We shall not quarrel about 



118 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

that. We know that prayer is often answered out of 
the line of the request ; answered in a wiser and better 
way than the petitioner knew how to ask. In three 
days the whole situation of this man's business affairs 
had changed. Those he had trusted did not fail. 
Stocks went up instead of down, and within a year 
everything with my friend was as prosperous as ever. 

Would you like to know the passage that he read 
that day? It was the forty-sixth Psalm: 

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help 
in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the 
earth be removed, and though the mountains be car- 
ried into the midst of the sea: Though the waters 
thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains 
shake with the swelling thereof. There is a river the 
streams whereof make glad the city of God, the holy 
place of the tabernacle of the Most High." 

The Churchman publishes a letter from an Indian 
clergyman at White Earth, Minnesota, which contains 
an interesting incident respecting an Indian named 
Benjamin Hollowell. The letter says : 

I am glad to hear a good testimony of our humble 
Benjamin Hollowell, who bears such a good Christian 
character among his own Christian and heathen breth- 
ren. It was he that saved his people when starvation 
stared them in the face, and in the midst of the winter, 
when hunting was impossible on account of the deep 
snow. His heathen brethren came to his humble wig- 
wam in a mocking way, calling upon him to call upon 
his Christian God and to save them from starvation 
and from utter destruction. This was after the heathen 
had failed receiving help and food from their heathen 
gods. For several days and nights the beating of their 
drums had been carried on with its full equipments 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 119 

without any answer; like the prophets of Baal they 
totally failed. 

Hence failing they went to call upon this poor man. 
In the evening he called together his Christian friends 
and family' and exhorted his brethren to ask G-ocl to 
have pity on them, to save them from starvation. After 
a hymn all united in fervent prayer — for one or two 
days they had nothing to eat — very early the next 
morning after another prayer, he took his snow shoes 
and went out hunting. Like Elijah's faith he was con- 
fident that the Great Spirit would give him food. 
After wandering about in the mountains he became ex- 
hausted and sat down on the bank of a large lake — he 
started to go and take a drink of water when he saw 
an opening near the shore ; looking down into the 
opening to his astonishment he saw a moving mass of 
fishes, of all sizes. He took his tomahawk and cut a. 
hole a few feet from the opening, and to his astonish- 
ment it was the same — thousands of moving fishes. 

He took a drink and kneeled down to thank God for 
his great mercy to his starving people; he took the 
fish, all he could carry. When near at home he met 
one of the heathen men, who called oat with a loud 
voice, " My friends, my friends, here is a Christian man 
loaded down with something, may be the bark of a 
tree ! " He put the fish near the door of his wigwam. 
Men, women and children came to see what it was: 
"Fish, fish, fish !" was the loud cry. Very early in 
the morning both heathen and Christian Indians started 
out after the fishes — for several weeks, day after day, 
the fish were brought over to the wigwams. There 
were about two hundred heathen and twenty Christian 
Indians. They often talk about this great blessing, 
and the heathen afterwards never spoke lightly of 
Benjamin Hollowell's God, but respect Him greatly. 

A correspondent of the Episcopal Recorder, who had 



120 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

sailed in a steamer from New York to Jacksonville, 
under the command of Capt. L. W. Pennington, relates 
the following chapter in the worthy captain's experi- 
ences, which occurred some years before. 

In 1882 he sailed from New York on a Fourth day 
of the week, in command of the steamer " Morro 
Costle," bound for Charleston. His account says : 

As soon as the steamer was out of the harbor, a fog 
set in and continued until Friday morning. The whis- 
tle was blown continually in order to prevent collision. 
About four o'clock Sixth-day morning, while the fog 
was still dense, the captain stepped out of his room 
into the pilot-house. He was anxious about the posi- 
tion of the ship, having seen nothing since they left 
New York harbor, and was fatigued from want of sleep. 
All at once an impression came upon his mind, which 
he knew was of the Lord. These words came to him : 
" Why this anxiety of mind about your ship and. pas- 
sengers, when you have a God to go to ?" 

Four o'clock being the hour of change of watch, the 
first and second officers were just then .both in the 
pilot-house. The captain told them both to remain 
there until he came back. He then entered his room 
again and knelt in prayer, and asked the Lord to re- 
move the fog so that he might go on his way in safety 
and get rest. The assurance came that it would be 
done. The captain returned to the pilot-house, and 
told the officers that there would be clear weather in a 
few minutes. The first officer replied: "Captain, I 
don't think so. There is no wind nor change in the 
weather in any way. I don't believe it will clear away 
until the sun comes up and burns off the fog." 

The captain said: "I have been to my room in 
prayer, and have had the assurance that it would be 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 121 

done; and I now tell yon, so that you may know when 
it takes place, that it is of the Lord." 

He then told the second officer that he could go to 
his room — he was now off duty. Instead of doing so, 
the second officer went to the forward deck, and in an 
undertone, commenced to scoff. Overhearing him, the 
captain warned him, saying, " Knowing as much as I do 
about God, I would not dare to make the remark that 
you have just uttered." 

Instantly, without any previous flash, lightning came 
down from the heavens, and so frightened the second 
officer that he stooped to the deck with fear. 

This was followed by the disappearance of the fog, 
and the light-house on Cape Hatteras was in sight 
about eighteen miles away. This occurred within a 
few minutes after the captain had said the fog would 
disappear. 

The first officer remarked, "what faith ! " 

This first officer is now first officer on the " Iroquois." 
Another passenger and myself questioned him about 
this incident. In all essential particulars, he corrobor- 
ated the captain. He thought that it was about fifteen 
minutes after the captain's assurance that the fog would 
be lifted, when it suddenly disappeared. He has great 
respect for his chief, and regards him as one who has 
power with God. 

The following narrative, which we find in the British 
Friend, is copied from the Oberlin Evangelist for 1846, 
and is an abridgment of an article which originally 
appeared in a French missionary journal : 

Some years ago several Moravian missionaries sailed 
in the ship Britannia from London to the island of 
St. Thomas to labor among the slaves. After many 
days of prosperous sailing and abundant mercies, a day 
of terror came. A pirate ship hove in sight, and bore 



122 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

down rapidly upon them. The captain prepared his 
ship as well as he could for defence : every sailor took 
his post; hut the missionaries — what could they do but 
retire to the cabin and lift up their cry to that Almighty 
One who hears prayer ? They did so, and stayed them- 
selves on their God. 

The pirate ship approached till it came within gun- 
shot of the Britannia, and then, from the cannon ranged 
along its deck, began to pour out a heavy fire. And 
there were grappling-irons on board, or strong sharp 
hooks, fixed to long ropes, ready to throw into the 
Britannia and hold her fast, while the pirates should 
board her and do their work of destruction. It seemed 
that there was little chance of escape from such an 
enemyt But the captain, whose heart was sinking at 
the fearful prospect before him, did not know what 
powerful helpers he had below, in the few peaceable 
missionaries, whose fervent prayers were ascending 
through the noise of the fight to heaven. 

The moment the pirates tried to throw their grap- 
pling-irons across to the other ship their own was 
tossed violently, and the men who held the ropes were 
thrown by force into the sea. Vexed by this disaster, 
the pirate captain sent others, who shared the same 
fate. Seeing he could not succeed in this manner, he 
resolved to fire at the Britannia till she sank with re- 
peated blows. But this effort strangely failed also, for 
the balls missed their aim and fell into the sea. The 
smoke of the frequent charges was very dense, and 
hung about the vessels for some minutes, hiding them 
from each other's view. At last a sudden gust of wind 
cleared it away, and to the amazement of the pirate 
captain the Britannia was seen at a distance, with all 
her sails spread to the wind, speeding swiftly away 
from the attack. The pirates were thus forced, in great 
anger, to abandon their cruel purpose. Thus wonder- 
fully had God appeared and saved the vessel in answer 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 123 

to prayer. The missionaries' prayers had been greatly 
honored. 

In a work entitled " The Lord was There," written 
by Anna Shipton, she describes some of the events that 
occurred while boarding at a hotel in the Tyrolese 
Alps, where she met with an Englishman and wife and 
a bright, attractive daughter of twelve or thirteen years 
of age. The child was a good German scholar, and 
accompanied Anna when she needed to make purchases 
in a town near by. A longing desire for the spiritual 
awakening of the child was raised in the heart of 
Anna Shipton ; and when, after missing her from the 
public walks for some weeks, she heard that the object 
of her interest was very ill, a prayer for her recovery 
sprang up in her heart, to which the answer was given, 
" She shall not die." So clear was the impression, that 
she sought the distressed father and said to him, " Trust 
your child to Him who raised the ruler's daughter. She 
will not die." He shook his head incredulously, and 
made no reply. 

The mother (who also had been ill) was raised up in 
a few weeks, but the child over whom her heart had 
yearned was still unable to leave her room. One even- 
ing, being in much heaviness of spirit, and oppressed 
by the noise in the hotel, A. Shipton had gone to a 
quiet spot in the public gardens, when the mother ap- 
proached with information that her daughter was bet- 
ter, and said, " Yesterday, when I went into her room, 
I found Hope sitting up in bed. With her face flushed 
and her eyes sparkling, she exclaimed : 

" Oh, mother, I am so happy!" I was afraid she 



124 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

was delirious, her countenance was so altered and 
flushed, and her voice so strange. 

« t "^"hat makes you so happy ?' I inquired. 

" 'Because I know my sins are forgiven; because I 
know I am a child of God.' 

" She then told me she had remembered some words 
you had spoken to her when you were shopping to- 
gether, and now she believed in the love of God, and 
had the peace of God in her heart." 

When at length the patient was able to leave the sick 
room, and spend an hour or two with her friend, Anna 
Shipton was amazed at the spiritual intelligence that 
had developed during those long weeks of sickness, 
and could not restrain her joyful tears, feeling, no 
doubt, amply repaid for the exercise of mind she had 
passed through on her account. 

The same writer mentions a case in which a widow 
was led to pray for her prodigal son, that the Lord 
would open his eyes; and received an assurance from 
God that her prayer was heard, and that not only 
should he be brought back (though she would not see 
it), but .that he should preach the Gospel in the very 
place where, as a headstrong youth, he had caused her 
to weep over his wandering from the right way. 

" Take pen and paper," said the dying mother, "and 
write this, 'I am fully persuaded that God's grace will 
reach my wilful son, and save his precious soul, and 
that in this very town he will preach the Gospel.' ' 

So she died, resting on the Divine promise to her, 
and this child of many prayers, after a lapse of many 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 125 

years, was brought from the far country to fulfil his 
mother's petition. 

In speaking of his labors at Zurich, in Switzerland, 
in 1813, Stephen Grellet says, " In some of the meet- 
ings I had, I was engaged to press upon the people to 
attend faithfully to the teachings of the Holy Spirit in 
their hearts, for it is the Spirit of Truth who not only 
brings the repentant sinner to Christ, the Saviour, bat 
also " leads into all Truth." I also earnest!} pressed 
upon them to repair often to the house of prayer, with 
faith and confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ, who has 
promised that ' whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, it 
shall be done unto you.' After one of these opportu- 
nities, Lavater, a physician, brother to the late Lavater, 
told me, ' I have great reason for being fully convinced 
of these great and important truths that you have de- 
livered. Once I did not believe in them, and even 
ridiculed them, but the Lord was pleased to convince 
me of their reality in the following manner: My son, 
my only son, was very ill. I had exerted all my medi- 
cal skill upon him in vain, when, in my distress, I wan- 
dered out into the street, and seeing the people going 
to the church where my brother, Lavater, was to preach, 
I went also. He began with that very text that you 
have mentioned, ' Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, 
believing, it shall be done unto you.' He dwelt very par- 
ticularly on the nature of prayer, in whose name and 
to whom it is to be offered. He described also the effi- 
cacy of that faith which is to be the clothing of the 
poor supplicants. I attended very closely to what my 
brother said, and I thought I would now try if it was 
indeed so, for my solicitude for the recovery of my son 
was great, my prayer for it was earnest. I thought 
also that I believed the Lord Jesus had all power to 
heal him if He Would. Now,' said he, ' in my folly, I 
dared to limit the Almighty to three days, concluding 



126 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

that by this I should know that He was indeed a God 
hearing prayer, if my son was restored within that time. 
After such a daring act, all my skill as a physician 
seemed to be taken away from me. I went about, look- 
ing at my watch to see how the time passed, then at 
my son, whom I saw growing worse, but not a thought 
to minister anything to him arose. The three days 
had nearly passed away, when, with an increase of an- 
guish, and also a sense of the Lord's power, I cried 
out, ' I believe, Lord, that Thou canst do all this for 
me; help Thou my unbelief!' On which some of the 
most simple things presented to me to administer to my 
son, so simple that at any other time I should have 
scorned them. Yet, believing it was of the Lord, I 
administered them, and my son immediately recovered. 
Now,' said the doctor, ' I felt fully convinced that the 
Lord heareth prayer, and that there is an influence of 
the Spirit of God on the mind of man, for I have felt 
it.' He added, ' To this day I feel ashamed of myself, 
that I, poor worm, should have dared to prescribe limits 
to the Lord, and wonder how, in his boundless mercy, 
He should have condescended, notwithstanding my 
darkness, to hear me.' These are very nearly the 
words of the doctor. They were accompanied with 
brokenness of spirit." 

An American judge relates the following incident as 
occurring in his practice : — He was trying a case, in 
which one of the parties was not able to pay counsel 
fees, and undertook to plead his own cause. But he 
found, in the course of the trial, that the keen and 
adroit attorney who managed the case for the other 
party was too much for him in legal strategy, evidently 
making the worst appear the better cause. The poor 
man was in a state of mind bordering upon desperation 
when the opposing counsel closed his plea, and the case 
was about to be submitted to the justice for decision. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. ] 27 

"May it please your honor," said the man, "may I 
pray?" The judge was taken somewhat by surprise, 
and could only say that he saw no objection. Where- 
upon he went down upon his knees and made a fervent 
prayer, in which he laid the merits of his case before 
the Lord in a very clear and methodical statement of 
all the particulars, pleading that right and justice might 
prevail. "0 Lord, thou knowest that this lawyer has 
misrepresented the facts, and Thou knowest that it is 
so and so," to the end of the chapter. Arguments 
which he could not present in logical array to the 
understanding of men, he had no difficulty in addres- 
sing to the Lord, being evidently better versed in pray- 
ing than pettifogging. When he rose from his knees, 
the opposing counsel, very much exasperated by the 
turn which the case had taken said: — "Justice, does 
not the closing argument belong to me? " To which 
the judge replied: — " You can close with prayer, if you 
please." The man of law wisely forbore, leaving his 
opponent to win his case, as he did, by his mode of 
presenting it. 

The following lines graphically describe an answer 
to prayer : — 

HOLD THE TEAIN. 

"Madam, we miss the train at B ." 

"But can't you make it, sir?" she gasped, 
" Impossible, it leaves at three, 

And we are due, a quarter past." 
"Is there no way? Oh, tell me, then, 

Are you a Christian ?" " I am not." 
"And are there none among the men 

Who run the train ?" "No— I forgot — 
I think the fellow over here, 

Oiling the engine, claims to be." 
She threw upon the engineer 

A fair face, white with agony. 

" Are you a Christian ?" " Yes, I am." 
" Then, O sir won't you pray with me, 



128 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

All the long way, that God will stay, 

That God will hold the train at B ?" 

"'Twill do no good ; it's due at three, 

And " — " Yes, but God can hold the train ; 
My dying child is calling me, 

And I must see her face again ; 
Oh, won't you pray ?" " I will," a nod 

Emphatic, as he takes his place. 
"When Christians grasp the arm of God, 

They grasp the power that rules the rod. 

Out from the station swept the train 

On time, swept past wood and lea ; 
The engineer, with cheeks aflame, 

Prayed, "0 Lord, hold the train at B ." 

Then flung the throttles wide, and like 

Some giant monster of the plain, 
With panting side and mighty strides, 

Past hill and valley swept the train. 
A half, a minute, two are gained ; 

Along those burnished lines of steel 
His glances leap, each nerve is strained, 

And still he prays with fervent zeal. 
Heart, hand, and brain, with one accord, 

"Work while his prayer ascends to heaven — 
"Just hold the train eight minutes. Lord, 

And Til make up the other seven." 

"With rush and roar through meadow lands, 

Past cottage home and green hillsides, 
The panting thing obeys his hands, 

And speeds along with giant strides. 
* * * # * 

They say an accident delayed 

The train a little while ;*but He 
"Who listened while his children prayed, 

In answer, held the train at B . 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 129 



CHAPTER III. 

DIVINE PROTECTION. 

Divine Protection — Governor of Tasmania — Widow Vance — The 
tray of oysters — Richard Cradock's granddaughter — James Dick- 
inson's preservation — Preservation from robbers — Saved from 
a burning vessel — Saved from lions — C. H. Spurgeon — Deacon 
Pollard — Richard Gush — Adam Clark — Richard Cecil — The 
bankrupt merchant — The farmer in trouble — The missionary as 
peace agent — Joseph Wiley — Robert Turnbull — Stephen Grellet 
— Preserved from hostile Indians — Bag of meal — The gift of 
four friends — John Roberts — Refusing to sell corn to distillers 
— Richard Davies — A remarkable awakening — Man in wardrobe 
— Henrique Buche— Anthony Hunt. 

There are many illustrations of the truth that the 
Lord does watch over and help his children. 

When James Backhouse and George W. Walker 
were in Tasmania, in 1832, they paid a visit to the Gov- 
ernor of the colony, who related to them a providential 
deliverance from death at the hands of an escaped con- 
vict, who, with others, had formed a band of outlaws, 
which, for a time, was a terror to the colony. The 
narrative states : 

When this gang were captured and were lying in 
gaol, prior to undergoing the last sentence of the law, 
some disclosures were made, which reached the Gov- 
ernor's ears, and induced him to question one of the 
party in a matter that related to his own life. The man 
to whom he addressed himself, and whose name was 
9 



130 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

Bird, was next in command to Brady, and only sec- 
ond to him in enterprise and ability; and he readily 
acknowledged that the life of the Governor had been 
attempted, and told him that on one occasion he was 
himself near being the perpetrator of the deed. The 
Governor informed us that it was a period he had 
good reason 'to remember, as the whole town was 
thrown into a state of excitement, from the knowledge 
that Brady's party were either in the town or its im- 
mediate vicinity. On a certain day the Governor was 
riding to Newtown, which is about three miles from 
Hobart Town, accompanied by his orderly-man. Whilst 
they were riding at some distance from each other, go- 
ing leisurely down the hill, the man suddenly came up 
with him, riding at a furious rate. On asking his rea- 
son for doing so, the orderly-man said he could not 
help it, the horse took fright at something, though not 
subject to do so, and became ungovernable, and till that 
instant he had not been able to bring him up. 4 It was 
at that moment, sir,' said Bird, ' that my piece was lev- 
elled at your head, and from the certainty of my aim, I 
had no reason to doubt that your life was in my hand, 
when the unexpected intervention of the orderly-man 
between us defeated my object, until you were out of 
my reach. I had for some days meditated your life, 
and had watched perseveringly for an opportunity, 
which now seemed awarded me, almost beyond a doubt 
of failure, when the unlooked-for occurrence frustrated 
my design, and but for which, I assure you, you would 
have been a dead man. 

The following incident, recorded by Br. J. J. Marks, 
as received by him from Paul Orr, an elder in the 
Church of Ozark Prairie, near Springfield, Mo., illus- 
trates the care of God for the widowed and the helpless 
who trust in Him : 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 131 

Before the completion of the San Francisco Railroad 
from St. Louis to Springfield, Mo., nearly all goods 
brought to Springfield came by way of Sedalia, on the 
Missouri Pacific road. This involved a journey of more 
than one hundred miles. Stages ran daily, and many 
teams were employed in the commerce. P. Orr, at the 
time of which I write, left Springfield, loaded for Se- 
dalia. He and his company came, on an evening, to 
the banks of the Pomme de Terre River, and made 
their camp for the night. The evening was delight- 
fully serene, there was not the speck of a cloud in the 
heavens. 

Between midnight and morning, they were awakened 
by vivid lightning and the roar of a cyclone in the hills 
beyond the river. The cloud extended over a small 
space, and was in a few moments gone. Soon the night 
was as quiet as before. As the clay dawned, Orr and 
his companions started on their way, and when they 
crossed the river they found that great trees had been 
uprooted and thrown across the road. Hours were 
spent in cutting their way through the entangled and 
broken forest. 

On the summit of the hills overshadowing the river 
had stood a hotel owned and kept by a man named 
Kelly. This was the principal and most popular house 
on the road. The house was large, and offered to 
weary travellers an inviting rest. It was encompassed 
with a beautiful grove of forest trees, giving forth a 
delightful odor, and breathing of peace. Kelly had 
been prospered. He every year added to his farms and 
multiplied his cattle. But he was far from being sat- 
isfied. Near him, on the border of his lands in the 
valley of the river, lived a widow and her three small 
children, Her husband, for a long time a feeble inva- 
lid, had years ago taken possession of the land on which 
she now lived, and had a squatter's claim, intending to 
obtain, in time, a government patent, but protracted 



132 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

illness on his part left the family the "barest livelihood. 
At length death came to the poor sufferer. The widow 
had the sympathy of all the neighborhood. She had 
secured the good will of all who had witnessed her in- 
dustry and care of her sick husband. She was regarded 
as a woman of eminent piety and unwavering faith in 
the blessed God. 

After the death of her husband, Kelly, who had long 
desired that rich bottom land, proposed to the widow 
that he would pay her for her claim, urging that she 
could by no possible effort support herself and children 
on the land, and pay the government for a patent. She 
refused to accept his offer, for it had been the home of 
her husband, and it was to her the only place in the 
world which she desired for her children. For a time 
Kelly waited, hoping that the expense of clearing out 
the land and the severe labor of the summer would in- 
duce the woman to accept his offer. But, as time rolled 
on, the widow was no less determined to retain and re- 
deem her home. 

In the meantime the land became to Kelly more 
attractive, and he determined, no longer to pity the 
woman, but he sent to Washington and obtained the 
patent for the land in his own name. Soon came the 
notice from Kelly that he had purchased the land and 
wished immediate possession. To this the woman paid 
no attention, but betook herself to more earnest prayer. 

In a few days Kelly and an officer appeared and pro- 
ceeded to put the woman and her property into the 
road. They were followed by a number of the neigh- 
bors, who wished to see the end. Kindly as was possible 
they removed the woman from her cabin and piled up 
her household goods beyond the fence in front of her 
house. As the' neighbors stood around, not silent in 
their indignation and sorrow, the widow kneeled by a 
chair, in the midst of the piled-up furniture, and ap- 
pealed to the God of the widow and the fatherless to 



FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMARKS. 133 

defend her. She asked that no sickness or had calamity 
might fall on Kelly or his, hut that his heart might be 
softened, and that he might repent of the wrong that 
he had done to a poor, defenceless woman. In the 
midst of the prayer Kelly and the officer left. Imme- 
diately the neighbors removed the furniture into the 
house and reinstated the widow in her home. The next 
week after the scene described came the cyclonic storm 
witnessed by P. Orr. 

When Orr and his companions reached the summit 
of the hill on which the hotel had stood they found all 
the trees of the park and orchards shattered and torn 
out by the roots. Of the house nothing remained only 
the lower floor of a bed-chamber, and of this not a board 
had been torn, and in the midst of it stood a solitary 
bedstead, on which a traveller and his wife had rested 
the previous night. And while the house and out- 
buildings were all swept away, not a member of the 
family was injured. 

When P. Orr reached the place where the house had 
been, he found Kelly, his family and many of the neigh- 
bors, gathered in the midst of the ruins. All assembled 
were as solemn and awe-struck as if they had seen the 
rider on the pale horse. After a few moments' conver- 
sation, Kelly invited Orr to go with him to the house 
of the widow, and many of the neighbors attended 
them. When they came to her door she met them. 
Kelly called her by name, and said, " Mrs. Vance, I am 
no longer going to fight with God. He is on your 
side. Now I will deed the land to you, and all I want 
is the money I paid for the land to the government, 
and from this day I will be a good neighbor to you, and 
help you as a brother." And before the widow could 
find voice to thank him, he turned and walked rapidly 
away. Soon the silence was broken by the widow 
pouring forth to God the words of thanksgiving for her 
deliverance. All around were moved, and man}' ex- 



134 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

claimed, " Surely here is the finger of God." Before 
the neighbors dispersed there was raised a sum suffi- 
cient to pay Kelly for the land. 

Thus in a few hours was secured to the widow and 
her children the homestead which, without the inter- 
vention of Providence, in the way described, would 
have required years of the most painful struggle and 
sacrifice to obtain. She realized more vividly than 
ever that often, behind a frowning Providence, God 
hides a smiling face. 

The following narrative gives us an interesting illus- 
tration of the goodness and tender care of the Lord, 
confidence in which enabled David to say " In thee do 
I put my trust." 

"a brother born for adversity." 

She was a silver-haired, fragile-looking woman, older 
than her years through a life of many trials; and her 
trials were not yet overpast. But a light that " never 
was on sea or land" shown in her worn face as she 
spoke to the weary-looking, discouraged girl beside 
her. 

" It is faith you want, my dear. "Not merely to be- 
lieve that Jesus Christ was born into the world to save 
sinners, but that He is living still to help them. You 
think you believe that, and live by it. But vou 
don't." 

" I try to," said the girl. " It's a great comfort to 
know that my sins are forgiven, and that when I die 
I shall be at rest." 

"Ah, when you die ! But why not while you are 
here? Why not be at rest to-day, this very moment?" 

" If you knew how I have to live," the girl mur- 
mured. " It's easy to talk that way when you are 
comfortable. But when life is such a hard struggle — 
when you have to work for your daily bread till you're 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 135 

too tired to eat it — when you don't know, maybe, 
whether there will be any bread for the next day " — 

" Then is the time to say to yourself, ' My Saviour 
knows, and He is the brother born for adversity.' 
Don't you think He could understand your troubles ? 
Or don't you think He is willing to lighten them ?" 

"You've had your troubles, I suppose," said the girl. 
"Everybody has something; but" — 

"But you think they can't be like yours? Tell me 
one thing just here: Did you ever want for food? 
Were you ever in actual hunger, and without a crust, 
without a penny to buy one?" 

" "No, I never was as poor as that," the girl replied. 
" I've been pretty close to it, but it never came to the 
pinch." 

" Then my experience has gone farther than yours, 
for I've been exactly in that situation." 

The girl glanced incredulously at the delicate face, 
the white hands, the refined dress of the speaker. 

" It don't seem possible," she said; "you look as if 
you'd always been a lady." 

" Yes, but that made it all the harder — don't you see? 
I couldn't work, and to beg I was ashamed. Would 
you like me to tell you about it ? It's rather a singular 
little story." 

The girl's eyes answered eagerly, and into the 
lady's came a certain far-away look, very sweet and 
tender. 

" It was a good many years ago," she said. I had 
my husband and my children then, and most of my life 
had been very happy. But trouble came upon us in 
one way and another and one day, as I told you, I 
found myself without money, and with no food in the 
house. We were in a strange place, moreover, where 
we were not known, and had no credit with trades- 
people. I could only buy what I paid for on the spot, 
and this morning I had spent my very last pennies for 



136 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

a pint of milk. There was a little bread in the house 
— not much, hut enough for the children's breakfast. 
I gave it all to them, with the milk, and I went fasting 
myself. The two little girls did not know, and their 
father was not there. He had gone away to seek em- 
I ployment and means of support for us." 

" Well ?" asked the girl breathlessly, as the speaker 
paused. " What did you do?" 

" It was Sunday morning," continued the other, 
"and I went to church. I dressed the children neatly, 
and took them with me as usual. We had suitable 
garments. Xo one would have guessed, to look at us 
that we were penniless. And my little girls were rosy- 
cheeked and healthy; they had not suffered. But I was 
so weak that I could hardly drag myself along." 

"You had been starving yourself for the children!" 

" That was nothing — for a mother. But it had come 
to the point now when the children must starve too, 
unless I had help. And Satan tempted me to despair 
that morning. ' You see that God isn't thinking of 
you,' he said. ' You and your husband have tried to 
be good Christians. You've loved God and your 
neighbor, and now your children lack bread. If it was 
true that your heavenly Father watches over his chil- 
dren, to provide for them that obey Him would you be 
in these straits now? Oh, its all a delusion! Fall down 
and worship me. My ways are the ways of pleasant- 
ness.' " 

"How strange!" the girl cried out with sudden ex- 
citement. " I've felt that way myself, — -just as if some- 
thing spoke to me !" 

"And something does speak. God's voice and Satan's 
voice strive together in our hearts oftener than we 
think. I was tempted to turn back before I had gone 
half-way. It seemed such a mockery to sit in church, 
and listen to hymns and prayers and sermons, when I 
was faintino; for food. ' What is it to God ? What is it 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 137 

to these pious people ?' Satan said. ' You'd better go 
and tell some kind-hearted sinner, and let him give you 
something to eat.' I should be ashamed to repeat the 
evil thoughts that came to me, only you know that 
God suffers us to be tempted at times. It is one of his 
ways of strengthening our faith. And He strengthened 
me to resist. I don't know how; but I kept on, and sat 
through the service, heard comfortable words, and came 
back again at noon to the house we lodged in. It was 
a large house, with a good many people in it ; but I did 
not know any of them. On the first floor was a ladies' 
restaurant, kept by a woman, I had been told ; but 
I had never been in it. It was always closed on Sun- 
day, and there was nothing to make me think of it, or 
of the woman who kept it. But for some reason or 
other, I did think of her as I stood for a moment at 
the back window, looking into the garden ; and almost 
immediately she came out from the lower door, and 
crossed the grass-plot, and broke ofT a long stem of 
gladiolus thick set with rosy flowers. 

" Will you have this ?" she said, looking up to me. 
"Let one of your little girls come down for it. Or, no; 
come down yourself, please. I want to ask you some- 
thing." 

]Now, I had never spoken to her before ; she had 
never spoken to me; we were complete strangers. Yet 
I did not feel surprised at her calling to me. I went 
down to the garden as if it was the most natural thing 
in the world; and, as we stood there talking of the 
flowers, she said, in the simplest way: 

" You won't be offended — will you? We have some 
fine oysters, — the first of the season, — and I'd like to 
send you a dish of them. Will you let me do it?" 

"Will I let you ? I shall think you are very kind," 
I said. "But why do you want to do such a thing for 
a stranger ?" 

"Oh ! I happened to think of it. The oysters are 



138 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

very nice," she said, " and the cook was just dressing 
them. I'll go right in and send up a tray." 

So she went into the kitchen, and I back to my 
rooms upstairs ; and within five minutes a servant came 
up, carrying a tray that was literally heaped with good 
things. There was a great dish of oysters, deliciously 
cooked, and crackers, and celery, and coffee, and a 
meringue for dessert, and sweetmeats, and fruit — a per- 
fectly luxurious meal, and more of everything than we 
could have eaten in three meals. You can imagine 
how I felt, perhaps. I sha'nt try to tell you ; for that 
isn't all the story. A message came up to me later, — 
" would I come down and sit with Mrs. Blank a little 
while in the evening ?" I went as soon as the children 
were asleep, and found her alone in a pretty parlor, 
with books and flowers around her. She welcomed 
me in the most cordial fashion, and began to talk of 
everything but the oysters. But my heart was too full 
to keep silence. 

" I want you to tell me why you sent up that tray," 
I asked. "Did you know that I hadn't so much as a 
crust of bread to give my children, and that I didn't 
know where to turn to find one?" 

She looked at me with amazement, but her eyes 
shone. 

" Why, no," she answered. "How could I dream 
of such a thing? But if it's true, then it was the Lord 
himself that spoke to me. I see it all now." 

I asked her what she meant, and she told me that 
she had seen me at church, and walked home behind 
me ; and as she saw me go to my room, it suddenly 
w T as borne in upon her mind that she must send me up 
some 0} T sters. 

" It wasn't my own thought," she said. " I was told 
to do it, and I objected at first. She'll think it's apiece 
of impertinence, I thought. I've no excuse to ofTer for 
it. But still something urged me : You must send up 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 139 

those oysters. So at last I went out into the garden, 
and saw you at the window; and then it all seemed 
simple enough. How thankful I am that I listened to 
his voice ? for it was surely the Lord that spoke," she 
continued. "And now you must tell me all your 
trouble, and let me help you. This is the Lord's 
doing." 

I could not doubt that it was. Had not He proved 
it to both of us ? So I told her the whole story, just as 
I might have done to my mother or my sister. And 
tenderly as a mother she cheered and comforted me. 
The Lord would help my husband to find employment, 
she said, and meanwhile it was clearly his will that she 
should take care of me. I was not to give myself any 
thought for the morrow — for rent, for food, for any- 
thing. It was all arranged for me. And I saw so 
plainly whose hand was leading us both, that I never 
thought of refusing her charity. It was an experience. 
I had never had to except charity before; but if that 
was God's way of caring for me and mine, why should 
I object to it ? We lived with this friend whom He had 
sent us for a month before my husband was able to 
make a home again for his family. But in all that 
time I never felt ashamed or cast down by my depend- 
ence. She made me feel that she was only God's ser- 
vant, doing only what He had distinctly sent her to do, 
and feeling honored in doing it. 

" She was a wonderful woman !" exclaimed the girl. 
" There are not many like her in the world, I guess." 

" More than we know, perhaps," was the answer. 
" God's world is full of his messengers, but we don't 
always recognize them." 

" I begin to believe one of them has come to me," 
said the girl, with a smile that shone through her tears. 
" I'm glad you told me that story. It — it brings the 
Lord closer, somehow." 

And she went away with her heart strangely light- 



140 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

ened. The actual strain of life was just the same; its 
poverty and hardship were visible facts ; but for a mo- 
ment her heart had comprehended a great truth — that 
the Son of God, "in the glory of the Father which He 
had with Him before the world was," is still " touched 
Avith the feeling of our infirmities." 

Sir Richard Cradock, a Justice of the Peace, who 
was a violent hater and persecutor of the Dissenters, 
and who exerted, himself to enforce all the severe laws 
then in existence against them, happened to live near 

Rogers, against whom he bore a particular enmity, 

and whom he wanted to have in his power. Hearing 
that he was to preach at a place some miles distant, he 
thought it a fair opportunity to accomplish his base de- 
sign, and in order thereto, hired two men to go as spies 
and take down the names of all the hearers whom they 
knew, that they might appear as witnesses, both against 

them and Rogers. The plan seemed to succeed 

to his wishes. These men brought him the names of 
several persons who were present at the meeting, and 
he warned such of them as he had a particular spite 
against, together with Rogers, to appear before him. 
Knowing the violence of the man, they came with 
trembling hearts, expecting to be treated with the ut- 
most severity. While they were waiting in the great 
hall, expecting to be called upon, a little girl, about six 
or seven years of age, who was Sir Richard's grand- 
daughter, happened to come into the hall. She looked 
at Rogers, and was much taken with his venerable ap- 
pearance. He being naturally fond of children, took 
her upon his knee and caressed her, which occasioned 
her to conceive a great fondness for him. At length 
Sir Richard sent a servant to inform him and the rest 
that, one of the witnesses being taken ill, was unable 
to attend, and that, therefore, they must come another 
day. 

They accordingly came at the time appointed, and 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 141 

being convicted, the justice ordered their mittimus to 
be written to send them all to prison. Rogers, expecting 
to see the little girl again, brought some sweetmeats 
with him to give her. As soon as she saw him she 
came running to him, and appeared fonder of him than 
before. This child, being a great favorite with her 
grandfather, had obtained such an ascendancy over him 
that he would deny her nothing, and she possessed 
such a violent spirit that she could bear no contradic- 
tion, so that she was indulged in everything she wanted. 
This bad spirit, in the present instance, was overruled 
for good. While she was sitting on Rogers' knee, eat- 
ing the sweetmeats, she looked earnestly at him, and 
asked, "What are you here for, sir?" He said, "I 
believe your grandfather is going to send me and my 
friends to jail." " To jail," said she. " Why what 
have you done?" "Why, I did nothing but preach, 
and they did nothing but hear me." "He shall not 
send you to jail !" she replied. "Ay, but, my dear," 
said he, " I believe he is now making out our mittimus 
to send us all there." Upon this, she ran up to the 
chamber where Sir Richard was, and knocked with her 
head and heels till she got in, and said to him, " What 
are you going to do with my good old gentleman in 
the hall ?" "That's nothing to you," said he. " Get 
you about your business." " But I won't," says she. 
" He tells me that you are going to send him and his 
friends to jail, and if you send them I will drown my- 
self in the pond as soon as they are gone. I will, 
indeed." When he saw the child thus peremptory, it 
shook his resolution and induced him to abandon his 
malicious design. Taking the mittimus in his hand, 
he went down into the hall, and thus addresssed these 
good men, "I have made out your mittimus to send 
you all to jail, as you deserve, but, at my grandchild's 
request, I drop the prosecution, and set vou all at lib- 
erty." 



142 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

They all bowed and thanked him, but Rogers, going 
to the child, laid his hand upon her head, and lifting 
up his eyes to heaven, exclaimed, " God bless you, my 
dear child. May the blessing of that God whose cause 
you did now plead, though as yet you know Him not, 
be upon you in life, in death, and to all eternity." 

The above remarkable story was told by Timothy 
Rogers, the son of the ejected minister, who had fre- 
quently heard his father relate it with great pleasure, 
and the celebrated Thomas Bradbury once heard it 

from him when he was dining at the house of 

Tooley, an eminent Christian lady, in London, who was 
distinguished for her religion and for her love to Christ 
and his people, whose house and table, like Lydia's, 
were always open to them. 

She had listened with uncommon attention to T. 
,, Rogers' story, and when he had ended it, she asked 

him, "And are you that Rogers' son ?" He told 

'her that he was, upon which she said, " Well, as long 
' as I have been acquainted with you, I never knew that 

• before. I am the very girl your dear father blessed in 

• the manner you have related, and it made an impres- 
1 sion upon me that I never could forget." 

Upon this double discovery, T. Rogers and 






ooley found an additional tie of mutual love and affec- 
tion, and then he and T. Bradbury expressed a desire 
to know how she, who had been brought up in an 
aversion to Dissenters and to serious religion, now dis- 
covered such an attachment to both. Upon which she 
cheerfully gave them the following narrative : 

After her grandfather's death she became sole heiress 
to his estate, which was considerable. Being in the bloom 
of youth, and having none to control her, she ran into 
all the fashionable diversions of the age, without any 
restraint, but she confessed, when the pleasurable scenes 
were over, she felt a dissatisfaction, both with them and 
herself, that always struck a damp to her heart, which 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 143 

she did not know how to get rid of in any other way 
than by running over the same round again and again. 
But all was in vain. 

Having contracted some slight illness, she thought 
she would go to Bath, hearing that it was a place for 
pleasure as well as health. When she came thither, 
she was providentially led to consult an apothecary, 
who was a very worthy and religious man. When he 
inquired what ailed her, she answered, " Why, doctor, 
I don't ail much as to my body, but I have an uneasy 
mind that I cannot get rid of." " Truly," said he, "I 
was so, too, till I met with a certain book, and that cured / 
me." " Books !" said she, " I get all the books I can 
lay my hands on — all the plays, novels and romances I 
hear of, but after I have read them, my uneasiness is 
the same." "That may be," said he, "and I don't 
wonder at it. But as to this book I speak of, I can say 
of it what I can of no other book I have read, that I 
never tire in reading it, but can read it again and again, 
as if I had never read it before, and I always see some- 
thing new in it." " Pray, doctor, what book is that?" 
"Xay, that is a secret I don't tell every one." "But 
could I get a sight of that book?" " Yes," replied he, 
" if you speak me fair I can help you to a sight of it." 
"Pray, then, get it me, doctor,. and I'll give you any- 
thing you please." " Yes," said he, " if you will prom- 
ise me one thing, I'll bring it you, and that is, that you 
will read it over carefully, and if you do not see much 
in the first, that you will give it a second reading." She 
promised faithfully that she would. After coming two 
or three times without it, to raise her curiosity, he 
at last took it out of his pocket and gave it her. This 
book was the lew Testament. When she looked at 
it, she said, with a flirt, " Poh ! I could get it any 
time." " Why," said he, " so you might, but remem- 
ber, I have your solemn promise to read it carefully." 
"Well," said she,, " though I never read it before, I'll 



144 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

give it a reading." Accordingly she began to read it, 
and it soon attracted her attention. She saw something 
in it wherein she had a deep concern, but her mind 
now became much more uneasy than ever. 'Not know- 
ing what to do, she soon returned to London, resolved 
to try again what the diversions there would do to dis- 
sipate her gloom, but nothing of this kind answered 
her purpose. 

She lodged at the court end of the town, where she 
had with her a female companion. One evening she 
had a remarkable dream, which was, that she was in a 
place of worship, where she heard a sermon. But when 
she awoke she could remember nothing but the text. 
This dream made a deep impression upon her mind, 
and the idea she had of the place and of the minister's 
person was as strong as if she had been long acquainted 
with both. On the following morning she told her 
dream to her companion, and said that after breakfast 
she was resolved to go in quest of the place, though 
she would go from one end of London to the other. 

They accordingly set out, and went into several 
places of worship as they passed along, but none of 
them answered to what she saw in her dream. About 
one o'clock they found themselves in the heart of the 
city, where they dined, and then set out again. Being 
in the Poultry about half after two o'clock, they saw a 
great number of people going down to the old Jewry, 
and she determined to see where they went. She min- 
gled with the company, and they conducted her to the 

meeting-house where Shower was the minister, in 

the old Jewry. 

As soon as she entered the door and surveyed the 
place, she turned to her companion and said, with some 
surprise, " This is the very place I saw in my dream." 
She had not long been there before she saw Shower go 
up into the pulpit, and, looking at him with greater 
surprise, said, " This is the very man I saw in my 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 145 

dream, and, if every part of it holds true, he will take 
for his text (Psalm cvxi: 7), "Return to thy rest, O 
my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." 
When he rose up to pray she was all attention. He 
took that very passage for his text, and God was pleased 
to make the discourse founded upon it the means of her 
saving conversion. And thus she at last found what 
she had long sought elsewhere in vain, " Rest to her 
soul." And now she obtained that blessing from God, 

the fountain of felicity, which pious Rogers, so 

many years before, had so solemnly and fervently im- / 
plored in her behalf. 

Among the instructive incidents which show that 1 
the Almighty is sometimes pleased to rescue his ser- S 
vants from impending danger, by the impressions which / 
He makes upon their minds, is the striking narrative ( 
of the remarkable preservation of James Dickinson and 
Jane Fearon, when travelling on a religious visit. It 
occurred during a visit to Scotland in the latter part of 
the seventeenth century. The account was preserved 
by Sarah Taylor, an eminent minister belonging to 
Manchester Meeting, to whom, when a young woman, 
it was related by the parties concerned, who were then 
quite aged. It has been widely circulated among 
Friends ; and the narrative was read to Sarah Taylor, 
at Lindley Murray's of York (England) in 1790, about 
fifty-six years after it was first told her ; and she con- 
firmed its accuracy. So far as known it was first 
printed in The Annual Monitor in 1816, as follows: 

After they had been travelling on a very rainy, tem- 
pestuous day, evening coming on, they inclined to stop 
at a little public house, in order to lodge there that 
10 



146 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

night; but a guide thej had hired, discovered, as far 
as they could understand his Scotch manners and dia- 
lect, his unwillingness for them to stay there ; inform- 
ing them there was a place about three miles further 
where they might conveniently lodge, and whither he 
wanted to go ; and that if they stayed, he would go on 
himself. But they, being wet and weary, concluded to 
stay ; so, discharging the guide, he went forward, being 
only hired for the day. 

After they had been a short time in the house, their 
minds were struck with painful apprehension that the 
people of the house had a design upon their lives ; and 
notwithstanding they behaved to them with apparent 
kindness and attention, the painful apprehension con- 
tinued and increased. 

Besides the landlady, there was another woman or 
two in the same room with them, who appeared to be- 
long to the house; the Friends also saw three men in 
and about the house, who were frequently in the same 
room observing them ; but in what capacity these men 
were, or what proper business or employment they had 
there, they could form no judgment. 

Jane Fearon also heard the men say one to another, 
"They have good horses and good bags." To which 
another added, "Aye, and good clothes." The lonely 
situation of the house, and these appearances, which 
the painful feelings attending their minds led them to 
observe, tended to increase the apprehensions they had 
of these peoples' wicked design; which the Friends 
endeavored to conceal from each other, each concluding 
not to discourage the other. 

James Dickinson having seen the horses taken care 
of, and their saddles taken off, they then inquired for 
beds, and were shown into a room where were two 
beds. After shutting the door, Jane sat down on the 
bedside, being no longer able to contain, and broke out 
into tears, saying, " I fear these people have a design 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 147 

to take our lives." Upon which, James, after walking 
some time across the loom, came toward her and said, 
" They have mischief in their hearts, but I hope the 
Lord will preserve our lives." He also endeavored to 
encourage Jane, and after some pause, said, " I hope 
the Lord will deliver us, but if so we must run." 

Upon this, Jane replied : "Alas, how can we run ! or 
whither shall we go! " 

Then James Dickinson, taking the candle, and care- 
fully examining the room, discovered a door, which he 
opened ; and, on searching, perceived a pair of back 
stone stairs that led to the outside of the house. Upon 
this discovery, putting off their shoes, they went softly 
down, leaving the candle burning in the room. On 
going down stairs, James saw through an open place in 
the stairs a woman with a candle in her hand. 

After running for a considerable time, they met with 
an outbuilding, into which they went; but when they 
had stopped a short time, James Dickinson said to Jane 
Fearon, "We are not safe here; we must run again." 
To which Jane replied, "I am so weary I think I can- 
not go any further;" but James pointing out the ne- 
cessity, she endeavored, and they ran again till they 
came to a river near the South coast. 

On going a little further along the side of it, they 
came to a bridge ; but on attempting to go over it, 
James Dickinson felt a stop in his mind, and said : 
" We must not go over this bridge, but must go farther 
up the river side : which they did, and then sat down. 
After some time, James Dickinson grew uneasy, and 
said : " We are not safe here, we must wade through 
the river." 

Jane Fearon replied: "Alas, how can we cross it, 
and know not its depth;" also adding, " Rather let us 
wait here, and see what they are permitted to do. It 
will be better for them to take our lives, than for us to 



148 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

drown ourselves:" apprehending the river to be ex- 
ceedingly deep. . 

James replied, "Fear not, I will go before thee;" 
upon which, they entered, and got safe through. Walk- 
ing some distance, they came to a sand bank. Here, 
again sitting down, James said to Jane Fearon : "I am 
not yet easy, we must go further ; " upon which, Jane 
said, " Well, I must go by thy faith, I know not what 
to do." 

Then going a little further, they found another sand 
bank, wherein was a cavity, where they sat down. 
After awhile, James said, " I am now easy, and believe 
we are now perfectly safe, and feel in my heart a song^ 
of thanksgiving and praise." 

Jane replied : " I am so far from that, I cannot so 
much as say, the Lord have mercy upon us." 

When they had been here some time, they heard the 
noise of some people on the other side of the river ; 
upon which, James Dickinson, finding Jane alarmed, 
and thence fearing they should be discovered, softly 
said, "Our lives depend upon our silence." Then at- 
tentively hearkening, they heard them frequently say : 
" Seek them, Keeper ;" and believed they were the men 
they had seen at the house, accompanied by a dog ; 
that the dog refusing to go over the bridge, had fol- 
lowed the scent of their feet up the river side to the 
place they crossed. 

Stopping at this place, the people again repeatedly 
cried, "Seek them, Keeper!" which they , not only 
heard, but saw the people with a lantern. They also 
heard one of them say they had crossed the river; upon 
which another replied, " That's impossible, unless the 
devil took them over, for the river is brink full." After 
wearying themselves a considerable time in their search, 
they went away ; and James Dickinson and Jane Fearon 
saw them no more. 

When daylight appeared, they saw a man on a high 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 149 

Mil at some distance, looking about him every way, 
apparently with an intent of discovering something, 
and they apprehended it was them. 

They continued quiet in their retreat till some time 
after sunrise, when, upon taking a view of their situa- 
tion, they discovered that under the first sand bank 
from whence they had removed, they could have been 
seen from the other side of the river; and that the 
place they continued in shaded them from being seen 
on the opposite side ; which they had been insensible 
•of, as they could not make the observation the night 
before. 

Upon considering what they should do to recover 
their horses, saddle-bags, &c, James said, "I incline to 
go to the house." But Jane proposed to go to a town, 
in order to get assistance to go with them to the house; 
to which James Dickinson observed, that the town from 
whence assistance was likely to be procured, was about 
ten miles off; that they were strangers; their reasons 
for taking such precaution in returning to the house, 
implied a high charge which they might not be able to 
prove; that thence occasion might be taken to throw 
them into prison by magistrates; and might more dis- 
pose the civil power to seek occasion against them, 
than to search into the cause of their complaints, or 
redress their wrongs. 

Jane still hesitating, James said, " I still incline to 
return to the house, fully believing our clothes, bags, 
•&c, will be ready for us, without our being asked a 
question ; and that the people we saw last night, we 
shall see no more." 

Jane said: "I dare not go back." James replied : 
" Thou may'st, Jane, safely; for I have seen that which 
never failed me." tjpon which, they returned to the 
house, and found their horses standing in the stable, 
and their bags upon them; their clothes dried and 
ready to put on, and saw no person but an old woman 



150 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

sitting iii a nook by the fireside, whom they did not 
remember to have seen the night before. They asked 
her what they had to pay, discharged it, and proceeded 
on their journey. 

Some time after, James travelling that way, made 
some inquiry respecting the people of that house, and 
was informed, that upon some occasion the people had 
been taken up, and the house searched ; that a great 
quantity of men and women's apparel was found in 
some parts of the house, also a great number of human 
bones; that some of the jDeople were executed, and the 
house ordered to be pulled down ; which then remained 
a heap of rubbish. 

When Hannah Field, from America, was on a re- 
ligious visit in England, two Friends accompanied her 
from Sheffield to Barnsly. After an evening meeting 
there, urgent business required their return home that 
night. Hannah Field, hearing of their intention, en- 
deavored to dissuade them from going, and on their 
pleading the necessity of it, said, " Well, friends, if you 
do it I have a strong apprehension that you will be 
robbed on the way. You had better wait till to-morrow 
morning." But, being two together, and having good 
horses, they nevertheless concluded on going. On part- 
ing from them she said again, " I shall be very glad if 
you escape being robbed." 

They had gone about half-way to Sheffield, riding 
near one another, in earnest conversation on some in- 
teresting subject, when suddenly a man sprang from 
the roadside to take hold of one of the bridles, while 
others behind also tried to seize the horses, and another 
man, armed, was drawing near. The Friends so quickly 
put their horses at full speed, that the man who had 
seized the bridle was thrown on one side, and those 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 351 

behind let go their hold. A shrill whistle, answered 
by another right before them, increased their sense of 
danger, but they had no other course than to go for- 
ward, which they did at full gallop. The night was 
dark, and they got home safely. 

The same power that at times gives to his servants 
a sense of impending danger, at others gives them a 
confidence in his protecting care. 

When Stephen Grellet was in Italy, in 1819, at a 
time when the country was much overrun with ban- 
ditti, an order was sent to him by the military com- 
manders to furnish him with soldiers to protect him on 
his way to Naples from the numerous highway robbers. 
To this he replied, acknowledging the civility of the 
friend who furnished it and saying that he placed his 
confidence in the saving power of Him in whose ser- 
vice he was engaged, who is the Captain of Salvation 
to all who put their trust in Him, adding, " Should He 
permit me to fall a prey to the hands of unrighteous 
men, I submit to his sovereign will." 

When about to return to America, in 1820, he went 
on board a vessel at Liverpool, bound for New York, 
and on sitting down quietly in the cabin, he says, " I 
felt sweet peace there. It seemed to me like a little 
sanctuary, and now, on the eve of my return home, the 
gracious promise made at the time of my departure 
from America was sweetly revived, ' Verily, my pres- 
ence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.' " 
He reached New York in safety. 

In 1814, the same Friend felt that his service in Eu- 
rope at that time was fulfilled, and hearing that there 
was a ship ready to sail for New York to exchange 



152 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

prisoners (for it was then a time of war between Eng- 
land and the United States), he obtained liberty to sail 
in her. The vessel was reported to be unseaworthy, so 
that he was " introduced into deep exercise and close 
searching of heart, to know if it was indeed right to 
embark" in her. But feeling a trust that she would 
convey him safely to America, he was favored with "a 
sweet calmness and peace of mind in the prospect of 
going by her." The voyage was a boisterous and un- 
comfortable one, and they were at times exposed to 
much danger and shortness of provisions, but they 
reached New York without any serious damage. Of 
his own feelings during this time of trial, Stephen Grel- 
let says, "At seasons when violent winds and foaming 
billows assailed our very frail and shattered vessel and 
my fellow-passengers saw no possibility for us to escape 
a watery grave, this gracious promise, ' Thou wilt keep 
him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, 
because he trusteth in Thee,' was revived. Thus did 
my gracious Lord uphold me and deliver me, forever 
adored and praised be his holy name." 

The danger from robbers, both by land and sea, to 
which S. Grellet was exposed in Europe, during the 
unsettled times in which he journeyed there, was by 
no means imaginary or slight. His Journal contains 
frequent allusions to it. When crossing the Appenines, 
in Italy, he mentions that on that day several persons 
were plundered by them, " but we saw nothing to dis- 
turb us." The next day he records, " We were favored 
this day also not to meet with robbers. Some of the 
people where we stopped to refresh our horses seemed 
to marvel how we had escaped them, but I knew to 
whom I am indebted. The Lord is the Almighty Pro- 
tector of those who put their faith in Him, blessed for 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 153 

ever and ever be his holy name !" After passing from 
Naples to Rome, he makes the record, "Through the 
Lord's merciful preservation, I have again escaped fall- 
ing into the hands of banditti, which abound on this 
road, notwithstanding the severity of the laws against 
them. Every few miles I beheld the horrible sight of 
human flesh hanging on posts by the sides of the road, 
near the places where murders have been committed, 
giving evidence that they may have been many. How 
often in these, my journeyings, do I feel as if my life 
was offered up. Day after day, and night after night, 
I know not but that I may fall a prey to the hands of 
unrighteous and wicked men. But very good and gra- 
cious is my blessed Lord ; how precious is the sense of 
his Divine presence !" 

Does not this experience remind the reader of the 
language of the Psalmist, " The Lord is my light and 
my salvation, whom shall I fear ?" The Lord is the 
strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid ?" 

On one occasion, when travelling in Germany, Ste- 
phen Grellet met with a narrow escape. He was trav- 
elling, in the night, in a sleigh, with post horses, when 
a robber sprang from behind a tree to take hold of the 
horses' heads, whilst the others were coming by the side 
of the sleigh. But the horses being spirited, and the 
driver giving them a touch of the whip, they sprang 
forward, threw off the man on one side, and they were 
soon out of reach. Although, during those perils, he 
daily felt his life to be in jeopardy, yet, at seasons, he 
says, " I am comforted in the belief that the Lord will 






154 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMABKS. 

not suffer anything to befall me, but that He will give 
strength to endure and condescend to sanctify to me." 

When among the islands of Greece, in 1819, on his 
way to the island of Tinos, he records the following 
adventure : 

We had proceeded only a few hours toward that 
island, when we met a vessel, the crew of which told 
us that last night they were chased by pirates, in two 
large rowboats, full of men. They had fired several 
times at them, but their vessel sailing well, had enabled 
them to escape. This was unpleasant information, but 
as it was now noon, we hoped to escape them. As 
we were going between the two islands, Andros and 
Tinos, we discovered at a distance a row-boat, which 
we thought might be a fisherman, and we kept on our 
course. But the wind dying away, we saw two other 
boats join it and come towards us. Our captain soon 
knew them to be pirates of the worst kind, who destroy 
lives, sink the vessel, and carry away only the plunder. 
We were very near an inlet on Tinos, but there was no 
wind, and the boat too clumsy to be acted upon by 
oars. Meanwhile the pirates had come very near us. 
It did not appear that we could escape their merciless 
hands, when He who commancleth the wind and the 
sea, and they obey Him, caused the wind to blow from 
the very direction which took our boat, fast as the 
flight of a bird, right into the inlet of the island, where 
the pirates dared not venture. Had not the Lord thus 
in mere}' interposed, a few minutes more would proba- 
bly have ended our mortal lives. Surely we have cause 
to bless and to magnify his adorable name ! Our Greeks 
appeared to be sensible of the wonderful escape. 

Grace Greenwood, in her " Stories for Home Folks," 
says : — 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 155 

I am going to tell a true story — -just as true as a story 
can be. I have had in my portfolio for many years a 
beautiful private letter, which told it to me, and I have 
often wished to impart to mothers and children the 
to aching example of heroism and filial faith which it 
embodies. I have long hesitated and delayed, from 
the fear that I could not do it justice. Yet, at last 
I venture, keeping strictly to the simple facts : — 

In the year 18 — , a relative of ours, a good and noble 
woman, took passage on a steamer from — if I remem- 
ber rightly — the city of Detroit, for Buffalo. She was 
returning to New England, after a residence in the 
West, having with her two lovely daughters — Char- 
lotte, a gentle womanly girl of twelve, and Mary, a 
dark-eyed curly-headed child of six. 

It was a cold day in November, and they had taken 
the very last boat of the season ; yet the weather was 
so calm and pleasant, and the steamer was so staunch 
and well commanded, that our travellers felt no appre- 
hension, but at a good hour, retired to their comfortable 
berths in the pleasant cabin, and after committing 
themselves to the kind protection of Him whose " way 
is in the sea,' r and " whose path is in the great waters," 
they soon slept the sweet, deep slumber of healthful 
bodies and peaceful hearts 

" Rocked in the cradle of the deep." 

All went well with the good boat and its voyagers, 
till about midnight, when the steamer stopped to take 
some freight from a pier built far out into the lake, at 
the entrance of the harbor of a small town. There 
was, among other articles to be shipped from this pier, 
a small barrel of turpentine. It looked veryliarmless, 
but it should have been handled as carefully as a keg 
of gunpowder. Unhappily, the sailors were ignorant 



156 FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMARKS. 

or reckless, and they rolled it on board so roughly that 
it burst. Its inflammable contents poured over the 
deck and down among the machinery, and somewhere 
came in contact with fire. In an instant, the boat 
seemed wrapped in flames : screams of terror and wild 
shouts of command rang out in every direction. Many 
of the crew, frantic with sudden fear and horror, de- 
serted at once, and the light house at the end of the 
pier having caught fire, the doomed vessel was cast 
loose and sent drifting off into the lake, a sad and ter- 
rible sight. 

Many of the passengers awoke to certain death — 
having only the choice between burning and drowning, 
but a few were saved by means of life-preservers and 
floating articles of furniture, which buoyed them up 
till boats from the shore came to their rescue. Some, 
doubtless, were chilled to death in the water, who, at 
a less inclement season, might have been saved : and 
others, bewildered and helpless, were suffocated in the 
thick smoke, without attempting to save themselves. 
Mrs. C , our relative, from whom have been re- 
ceived the details of this story, and even the exact 
words used by herself and daughters during those 
dreadful scenes, was sleeping soundly in her berth, 
when a little white-robed figure came to her, and said 
quite gently — "Mamma, the boat is on fire — do 
get up ! " 

It was little Mary. Xever did childish lips utter 
more appalling words, yet they failed at once to arouse 
the weary mother. Then the child spoke more anx- 
iously, grasping her mother's hand, u Mamma ! mamma ! 
we are burning up — what shall we do !' ? 

Then Mrs. C sprang up, she saw her children 

by her side, pale with terror, but each careful little 
soul holding in her arms the clothes she had taken off 
on going to bed. The cabin was filled with smoke — 
all the other passengers had fled from it. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 157 

The poor cabin maid, having none to help her, alone 
remained. "Oh, madam!" she said, "I thought you 
were gone, and told your children so ; but the little 
one said — ' We will go to her berth ; we know she 
wouldn't leave us.' " The woman then added, " We 
are all lost ! You cannot get out for the flames, don't 
attempt it." 

But Mrs. C was not a woman to abandon her- 
self and her children to a fate so horrible, without an 
effort at escape. The cabin was on deck. She opened 
one door, but as the flames rushed in, she closed it im- 
mediately. 

Again the poor cabin maid cried out — "Don't go out, 
we can live here a few minutes longer." She was a 
good religious woman, and in the midst of her distress, 
she prayed fervently for her own soul, and for the souls 
of others, who soon must pass to their last account 
through fire or blood. But our noble cousin felt that 
these were times when doing was better than praying. 
She ran to the opposite door, and found it opened on 
to a little space at the stern of the vessel, which the 
flames had not reached. She led her children out, and 
called to the cabin maid to come also; but the poor 
woman, utterly hopeless and helpless, apparently made 
no effort to escape, though she was thoughtful enough 
to throw overboard some articles of clothing and carpet 
bag belonging to our friends, thinking that they might 
possibly be floated ashore and recovered. She perished 
on the vessel. 

The mother and daughters paused by the railing at 
the stern of the steamer. " Do not cling to me, chil- 
dren, — be quiet and obedient, or I can not help you," 
said the brave mother calmly; and the brave little girls 
promised to be very good. 

They were nearly fifteen feet above the water : but 
as the flames made a ghastly day all around them, they 
could distinctly see the ropes and chains of the rudder. 



158 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

These offered to the mother's mind the only possible 
chance of present deliverance. 

Then, while behind them, faster and faster came on 
the roaring flames, the mother stood with her arms 
about her darlings and prayed, a low brief prayer, but 
strong as love, passionate as life, solemn as death. 

Then lifting up little Mary, she said, "My child, do 
you see those ropes and chains below there ?" 

" Yes, mamma." 

" Well, darling, I must drop you over into the water, 
to save you from the fire. At first you w r ill go down, 
down ; but you will come up again directly, very near 
those chains and ropes, I think. Then grasp the chains, 
not the ropes, for they will probably be burned away, 
soon; but the chains will last. Hold on to them. 
Don't let go for a moment, whatever may be said to 
you. Do you understand ?" 

" Yes, mamma; I am told to hold on to those chains. 
But won't I be drowned ?" 

" I hope not, dear, only keep your mouth tightly 
closed, while you are under water ; be calm and re- 
member what mamma has told you. Charlotte and I 
will try to come to you : but only hold on to the chains, 
and after awhile people will come in a boat, and save 
you. Now 7 dear, you must go." 

The child put her arms about her mother's neck, and 
kissed her a good-bye. The mother kissed her with. 
solemn tenderness, and gave her up to God. Over the 
railing she gently lifted her, held her for one fearful 
instant suspended, then let go ! The child struck the 
water, almost as silently and softly as a snow flake, the 
faithful, obedient heart giving out no cry of dismay as 
she went down. The white night dress gleamed for 
a moment on the dark waves, then sunk out of 
sight. 

How long seemed the waiting for her re-appearance! 
Poor Charlotte, who throughout the preceding scene 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 159 

had uttered no word, exclaimed, "Oh, mother! Mary 
is gone!" 

" Well my dear child, where she has gone, we will 
soon follow," was the calm reply. But the next mo- 
ment there appeared a little white speck on the surface 
of the dark water. It was Mary, rising where she sank. 
She grasped the chains — she replied to their call — she 
was safe. 

"Now Charlotte," said the mother, "it is your turn. 
I cannot lift you over the railing ; you must jump. Be 
brave as little Mary — do as you have seen her do, and 
you may be saved." 

" Yes, mother ; I will try. But you will surely 
come ?" 

" Yes, my daughter. I will die or be saved with 
my children. Keep a good heart— trust in God — 
good bye !" 

A hurried embrace — a loving kiss — then a slender 
young figure clambered over the railing — stood poised 
an instant outside, then plunged through the lurid air 
into the cold deep water! Another moment of fearful 
suspense for the mother ; then this dear form rose also 
from the relenting deep. Charlotte came up close to 
her little sister — grasped also the rudder chain, and 
called out to her mother that she was safe. The flames 
had by this time reached the spot where that mother 
stood. The thick smoke almost hid her from the eyes 
of her children. Then throwing herself, as she had 
thrown her darlings, on the arm of her Father and her 
God, she, too, climbed over the railing and leaped into 
the water. She seemed to descend a vast distance, into 
profound calm and silence, shutting out, as it seemed, 
forever, the scene of terror, anguish and tumult, she 
had just witnessed ; but at last she also began to rise as 
though angel hands unseen and unfelt were bearing 
her up. She came to the surface close by the rudder, 
close to her children. Oh, what a welcome they gave 



160 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

her ! She, too, grasped the chains, hut found them 
almost too hot to hold. Every moment the heat grew 
more intolerable, though only the heads and hands of 
the little group were above the water, they were 
scorched and blinded by the flames that waved and 
swirled above them. Once, little Mary, weary and 
tortured by the heat of the iron she was obliged to 
grasp, let go and went under. The mother had yet 
strength to rescue her and bring her back to her place, 
entreating her, as she did so, to endure a little longer. 
. " Oh, yes !" sobbed the child, " what will father do 
if we are drowned?" 

So love, the great Divine helper, lent her patience 
and courage. 

All around this pathetic group, were other passen- 
gers, floating on the waves, supported by boxes and 
settees. Isone had so slight a reliance as these, or one 
so exposed to the blaze and smoke of the burning ves- 
sel. Other women and children had husbands, broth- 
ers or fathers to care for them; yet many lacking 
courage and presence of mind, perished before help 

could reach them. At one time, Mrs. C saw in 

the water, near her, a young bride and bridegroom, 
whom she had known on the boat, which they had 
taken on their wedding tour. The young husband was 
a swimmer, and was attempting to save his wife ; but 
she was clinging about his neck in so frantic a manner, 
that it was evident she would soon render him help- 
less. 

Mrs. C entreated her to let go her grasp, lest 

both should be lost. The poor young thing shrieked 
with wild terror, and clung the closer, and her brave 
husband, panting and struggling, said only, " You may 
cling to me Margaret; I will save you." Alas! his 
heart was stronger than his arm. In a little while they 
went down together and were seen no more. But, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 161 

" many waters cannot quench love — neither can the 
floods drown it." 

Oh ! that weary, weary time of waiting for the hoat 
that went in every direction, searching for and picking 
up the sufferers before coming to that little group 
under the stern of the vessel, where the flames were 
the most appalling. 

Mary still held on bravely with her poor burned 
hands, but Charlotte at one time seemed utterly ex- 
hausted, and murmured — "Oh, mother! I must let go, 
I can't stay any longer." 

"But, my darling, you will surely be drowned." 

" I know it, mother ; but I cannot stand this any 
longer." 

Yet, the next moment, she had the courage to shake 
off the grasp of a young lady, who, thinking herself 
sinking, caught hold of the poor child. This lady was 
saved, and sometime afterward met and recognized the 
little girl she had nearly dragged with her into the 
depths of the lake. 

At last, after nearly an hour of such anxiety and suf- 
fering as cannot be told — half burned yet half chilled 
to death, the mother and daughters were picked up by 
a small boat and taken to the shore. They were the 
very last to be rescued. 

They were tenderly cared for, nursed and comforted 
by kind people, and supplied with suitable clothing — 
for of course they had lost all. In a few days they were 
so far recovered as to be able to resume their journey. 
The husband and father joined them, and they went 
their way with grateful and solemn hearts — a noble 
Christian family, more tenderly loving even than they 
were before passing through this fearful trial, by fire 
and flood, and with renewed faith in God, they could 
say with the Psalmist: "The waters of the sea had 
well nigh covered us; the proud waters had well nigh 
gone over us. Then cried we unto thee, Lord! 
11 



162 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

Blessed be thy name, who didst not despise the prayer 
of thy servants; but didst hear our cry, and hast 
saved us." 

In his travels in South Africa, about fifty years ago, 
James Backhouse mentions several incidents connected 
with the lions which then infested that country. One 
of these is as follows : 

A few months ago, Roger Edwards, a missionary, 
residing at the Kuruman, had a narrow escape from 
lions. He was on his way from the Colony; and after 
resting at Daniels Kuil, he had set out, with the in- 
tention of riding to the Kuruman in the night, having 
a led horse, and being accompanied by a Hottentot, 
who rode a mare, by the side of which a foal was run- 
ning. Just as he arrived at some large, scattered 
bushes, a sudden impression on his mind induced him 
to alight from his horse, saying to the Hottentot, that 
they would stop there. The Hottentot accordingly 
dismounted, they took off their saddles, knee-haltered 
the horses, turned them loose to feed, and lay down 
under one of the bushes. 

They had not been there many minutes when the 
mare screamed. The} 7 listened, and a lion roared. 
They rested themselves upon their knees. The horses, 
having got clear of their knee-halters, galloped past 
them, taking the road to Kuruman. The mare fol- 
lowed as fast as she could, but her knee-halter had been 
too tight to allow her to release herself from it. They 
were followed by four lions, at full speed. A fifth 
stopped short, and gazed for a time at the travellers, as 
if deliberating whether to spring upon them or to fol- 
low the others. The moon was just setting, but it still 
cast sufficient light to enable them to distinguish the 
terrific beast. The Hottentot, in alarm, began to make 
a noise, but was immediately hushed by the missionary, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 163 

whose knees, though kneeling, smote together, and who 
said, if ever he prayed in sincerity it was then, though 
it was a silent prayer. He thought five minutes might 
elapse while they were thus situated, but remarked that 
it might not be so much, as under such circumstances, 
minutes necessarily seemed long. The lion at length 
sprang upon the path, and went after the others. The 
cries of the mare were heard at a distance, more and 
more faintly, till they ceased. The missionary and the 
Hottentot agreed to listen, lest the lions should return, 
as, in case of such an event, a few low trees near them 
afforded a forlorn hope of escape. But, overpowered 
by fatigue and fear, they fell fast asleep, and did not 
awake till dawn of day. 

In their first consciousness, they were in such ter- 
ror a*s scarcely to know whether they were still living 
inhabitants of this world, or had been killed by lions. 
On coming to themselves, they put their saddles and 
luggage into the trees, to keep them from hyenas and 
jackals; and pursued their way to Koning's Fontein. 
On arriving there, they soaked some bread in water, 
I>ut could not eat. The way seemed longer and more 
tedious than ever before. At length R. Edwards said 
he could proceed no further, and he lay down under 
some bushes. The sound of human footsteps soon 
caught his attention, and he desired the Hottentot, if 
they were those of Kuruman people, to tell them that 
Edwards was there. They proved to be Kuruman 
people, and he told them to go to the Kuruman and 
tell Robert Moffat what had befallen him. They set 
out, but the idea of obtaining help revived the ex- 
hausted man. He followed, and when Robert Moffat 
reached him he was bathing in the ford of the Kuru- 
man River to refresh himself. 

The mare was eaten by the lions. The foal had 
remained with its mother till the claws or teeth of a 
lion had been applied to its throat. It had then gone 



164 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

off with the horses, with which it was afterwards found. 
R. Edwards said that, up to the moment on which he 
received the impression to stop there, his intention was 
to ride to the Kuruman, and that he could not but ac- 
count the impression to be from the Lord, for he had 
no doubt that the lions were watching by the bushes, 
and that, if he and his companion had gone a few 
yards further, they would have sprung upon them. 

As to his own experience with these formidable ani- 
mals, James Backhouse says, "As we came into the 
country infested by lions, I observed considerable ex- 
citement among our company in talking about them. 
As I had sufficient proof that they were such poor 
marksmen as to be much more likely to enrage a lion 
than to destroy one, by firing at him, I became uncom- 
fortable, being unable to obtain a promise from them 
that, if one should visit us, they would allow him 
quietly to take an ox or a horse, without risking their 
own safety by attempting to shoot at him. But my un- 
easiness was mercifully brought to an end by a feeling 
of near access in prayer to the footstool of Him who 
can stop the mouth of lions, that we might be pre- 
served from all annoyance by wild beasts, and that we 
might neither hear the lion's roar nor see the print of 
his foot." His petition was granted, for during an ex- 
tended journey through the interior of the country, 
which occupied many months, he and his party were 
never molested by these beasts of prey. 

C. H. Spurgeon, in Sword and Trowel, records several 
instances, in which he believed the Lord's care was ex- 
erted to save him from threatened danger. One of these 
was on a journey into Kent, when on one of the hills 
the carriage in which he was riding came into sharp 
collision with a cab. " It was a great shaking, but we 
went on our way. I noticed that a wheel rattled, but 
there was no apparent sign of mischief. The carriage 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 165 

stopped at the lodge, and I dismounted with my secre- 
tar}\ The coachman turned the horses around to go 
hack to his liver j stables, and there and then, the car- 
riage experienced a remarkable collapse. A wheel came 
off, another wheel seemed, to be under the carriage, the 
springs snapped, and the forepart of the vehicle parted 
from the body of it. Why had not this happened be- 
fore ? "We had turned two sharp corners safely. Why 
were we not wrecked ? Our impression was that a 
Divine hand had been fulfilling the word, ' He shall 
give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
ways.' 

" Full of gratitude at an escape which was all the 
more memorable because of certain minute circum- 
stances which I need not here repeat, I was led to re- 
call two or three other special preservations. 

" Some years ago I stayed with my wife for a few 
days at a beautiful spot on the Isle of Wight. The inn 
was a rustic habitation, roofed with thatch, and on the 
lawn before it were several magnificent elms. We left 
at the end of the week. The tears stood in my eyes 
when I read in a newspaper that a terrible hurricane 
•on that night had blown down one of the elms, and 
that it had fallen across the roof of the hotel, and de- 
stroyed, one of the rooms 'in which/ said the report, 
4 Mr. and Mrs. Spurgeon had slept on the previous 
night.' I ought to have been grateful each morning 
that I had reposed in safety, but an unusual rush of 
thankfulness swept over my heart when I considered 
how near, upon this occasion, I had been to death. 

"A few years ago I set out on my annual journey to 
the south of France. I had at former times travelled 
by the first train, but upon this occasion I chose to start 
by the eleven o'clock train. 

" I knew not why the choice was made. But some 
time before we reached Boulogne, we were detained on 
account of an accident on the road. An accident in- 



166 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

deed it was, for we passed the wreck of the early train, 
and learned that many had been injured by a collision. 
One bares his head in reverent gratitude, and worships 
the Lord, in whose hands are all the ways of his ser- 
vants. Unbelievers may say what they please, but he 
who is the immediate object of such deliverance is 
compelled to say, ' Surely, God was in this place.' ' 

The same writer describes an adventure of a native 
of Lancashire, England, named Pollard, who had set- 
tled five miles out of Santa Cruz, California, and was 
a deacon of a Baptist congregation in that city. As he 
was coming home one evening from meeting, and just 
passing through one of the deep and dark gullies along 
his way, a desperado levelled his pistol at his head and 
fired. The shot singed his whiskers and grazed his 
cheek, but the deacon was not hurt. The ruffian and 
would-be-murderer fled. The deacon thanked heaven for 
deliverance, and continued his journey. Soon after his 
arriving home his wife observed his face, and asked 
what had happened. The deacon concealed nothing, 
but gave a plain, simple, but truthful account of the 
event. Xaturally his wife and family were greatly 
alarmed and vexed. When meeting time came around 
again, and the deacon was seen, as usual, getting ready, 
she said to him, "Deacon, I hope, after what has hap- 
pened, you don't mean to go to meeting to-night." 
" Yes, my dear," said he, " it is certainly my intention." 
" I know you are not afraid of going all that way 
alone, but the danger," said she. "Ah, you think of 
the danger," said he. " I suppose it is somewhat natu- 
ral you should do so, but I am thinking of something 
else." " Deacon," said his wife, " don't you value your 
life ? Do you think it so worthless that you need take 
no care to preserve it?" "I think," said the deacon* 
" I set a proper value on my life, but as to my sacrific- 
it, that is an entirely different mat- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 167 

ter. We look at this matter differently. You see the 
human side of this late affair, I look at the Divine side. 
You think of the ruffian with his pistol and bullet and 
all his desperate and cruel purposes, I think of the kind 
Father that turned aside his hand and defeated his sin- 
ful intentions." 

James Backhouse mentions in his Journal that, dur- 
ing the Kaffir war in South Africa, Richard Gush, a 
pious man, with whom he met in his journey, had fre- 
quent occasion to travel through a part of the country 
where he was liable to meet with hostile parties. The 
dauger was so great that it was seldom that any one 
dared to accompany him. Before setting out he was 
accustomed to seek for the feeling of peace in the pros- 
pect, and when advanced upon the way he often turned 
into a little copse by the side of the road, and, in re- 
tirement of spirit before the Lord, sought further con- 
firmation as to continuing his journey. On feeling 
peaceful in the anticipation, he proceeded, and thus 
trusting in the Lord, and seeking his counsel, he was 
preserved in safety. 

In a sermon preached for the Royal Humane Society, 
by Adam Clarke, then an old man, he related the fol- 
lowing circumstance concerning himself in which he 
was evidently the subject of a most marvellous deliver- 
ance :— 

When a boy, he one day rode a horse down to a large 
river which flowed near his father's house, and at- 
tempted to cross it. But the stream was stronger and 
deeper than he thought. The horse lost his footing 
and was carried down the current. The boy was car- 
ried off the horse's back, sank, lost his consciousness 
and continued in the water he knew not how long, for 
the next thing he could remember was finding himself 



168 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

on the bank of the river, where he supposed he had 
been drifted by the running stream and where the heat 
of the summer's sun must have acted as a restorative 
to the system. 

The excellent Richard Cecil was the subject of a 
similar deliverance, in which the watchful eye and 
merciful hand of Providence may be distinctly seen. 
He was playing in a yard at the back of his father's 
house where were several tanks of water. One of these 
was sunk in the earth, and at that time had been frozen 
over, and a hole made in the ice to water the horses. 
The boy was playing at this hole with a stick, when 
suddenly his foot slipped, and falling into the hole he 
was carried beneath the ice. 

His father's workmen had received orders to proceed 
to some work in another part of the dye-works, but 
somehow they had neglected his order. Had they 
done otherwise they would have been out of sight of 
the tank. As it was, the child had slipped so noise- 
lessly into the water, and had so soon become uncon- 
scious, that it was some minutes before one of the men 
thinking he saw something at the tank found it was 
the scarlet cloak of his master's son. The child was 
taken from the water apparently dead. From the use 
of proper means, and after long efforts, animation re- 
turned, and the boy was restored. 

Not less was the hand of Providence seen, while still 
a boy, his clothes were caught in the wheel of a horse- 
mill. He must have been crushed to death instantly, 
but for the presence of mind which God preserved. In 
a moment he saw that the head of the horse which 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 169 

worked the mill was within reach of his feet. He 
dashed them in the animal's face so violently as to at 
once stop him and the mill, and then he succeeded in 
extricating himself from the wheel. 

The amiable and talented Dr. Doddridge was his 
mother's twentieth child, and was so frail and feeble at 
his birth, that he was lain aside as dead. One of the 
attendants, however, thought she saw some faint indi- 
cations of life, and by her fostering care the tiny child 
came to show further signs of animation, and the flick- 
ering spark was fanned into a gentle flame. The life 
thus wonderfully spared was no less wonderfully 
devoted to God, and used of Him for the good of 
multitudes. 

A correspondent of the Christian Advocate of New 
York furnished to that paper the following incident, 
which he says formed a chapter in the history of a 
New York business man of whom I once heard the 
Editor of the Christian Advocate say : "He is as fine an 
accountant as I have ever known." 

For years the s abject of my story, whom I will call 
T. C, held a lucrative position in a large manufacturing 
concern having his headquarters in New York city. 
He was a Christian ; had saved his money, invested it 
carefully, and was known as a wealthy man. 

Believing that he could better his condition he re- 
signed his position and, joining with another, entered 
upon a business which in a few years utterly failed, 
leaving him bankrupt, with a large family. From his 
comfortable home in New York city he moved his 
family into small quarters in Brooklyn and began life 
anew. 



170 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

"No business offered itself. Weary weeks of earnest 
seeking for any kind of work closed their unfriendly 
time upon a heart-broken family, a foot-sore and de- 
spondent man. 

Another week had nearly gone; Saturday afternoon 
had come with no money or provisions for the Sabbath ; 
a husband and father in New York city, without friends 
and without sufficient money to cross the ferry to his 
destitute home. Such were the circumstances which 
might well have caused him to stagger in dismay. 

Reflecting upon the past, with *its hosts of friends 
and many pleasures, and contrasting it with the present, 
his soul burned with indignation at the thought of the 
perfidy of his former friends, when, as if by magic, his 
perturbed spirit was calmed by a voice audible only to 
the inner consciousness, which said to him: " T. C, 
you are a Christian. You have one friend left; isn't 
He able to care for you ? Dare you trust Him ?" 

Immediately all care ceased. He determined to trust 
God and was sure He would care for him. 

New life possessed him, and turning up Broadway he 
walked amid the throng as unconcerned as though he 
were a millionaire. He had nowhere in particular to 
go, and no definite plan in mind. Yet so happy was 
he in his assured future that he was hardly conscious 
of the crowds about him or the direction he was taking. 
At last he was attracted by the sign of an old friend, 
one whom he had not seen for years, and who knew 
nothing of his trouble. With no thought of asking his 
help, he crossed the street and entered the door. The 
friend saw him as he entered, and grasped his hand, 
exclaiming: "T, C, as sure as I live! I have been 
thinking of you all the afternoon, and wishing that I 
might see you. Have you ten minutes to give me? 
I have a scheme in which I want to interest you." 

A manufacturing enterprise was proposed. The 
friend w r as to furnish the capital, a third party the ex- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 171 

perience, and T. C. was to introduce the business and 
act as general manager, with salary and commission. 
The contracts were signed immediately, and the busi- 
ness was to be undertaken on the following Second- 
day. 

As he was about to leave, not a word having been 
said relative to his stranded condition, the friend placed 
a check for one hundred dollars in his hand, and said : 
" This is the first instalment upon your salary ; draw 
upon me whenever you desire the balance." 

With the Doxology in his heart he found his way 
home to surprise his dear ones. 

Monday morning found him ready for business. 
Success attended him from the first, and at the end of 
three weeks he had to his credit over two thousand 
dollars. 

Years afterward, again in his old position, a prosper- 
ous man and earnest Christian, he related this story to 
the writer, and added : " I have trusted Him and He 
has cared for me. I shall trust Him ever." 

From The Word of Life the following interesting 
narrative is extracted : 

The late James Sherman, of Surry Chapel, relates an 
incident of his student life while at Chestnut College, 
which made a deep impression on his mind, and it may 
be repeated in this form for the encouragement of all 
who have suffered reverses, and for the strengthening 
of the faith of the poor and needy in the God who 
hears prayer. 

After preaching one day at a neighboring village, he 
called at a house overshadowed by a dark cloud of 
affliction. The family consisted of a father and three 
daughters, and they were all bearing the yoke of trial. 
One daughter had a white swelling, another had a can- 
cer, and a third was down with a fever, while to crown 
the series of disasters, the father had been brought 



172 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

home the day before with a broken leg. James Sher- 
; man read the thirtieth Psalm and offered prayer, not 
• forgetting to enquire of the eldest daughter what means 
of support remained. " None now," she frankly re- 
/ plied; "but in all our affliction we have always been 
provided for, and I doubt not we shall be still." He 
gave them all the silver he had, which after much hesi- 
tation they were induced to accept. 

Walking back to the college, he reflected that he 
had given away all his money, and that he did not 
know when or whence the next would come. Just as 
he was sending up a prayer to Him who is the kind 
Provider for his children, an old farmer who had heard 
him preach and who was watching for his passing, 
called to him, and offered to walk with him. " Your 
sermon," said he, " directed my thoughts to my pre- 
vious history, and as it will beguile our walk and 
illustrate your discourse, if agreeable to you, I will 
relate the circumstances." James Sherman gladly con- 
sented. "We give the substance of his narrative : 

About forty years before, he took a rather large farm. 
For a number of years he went on prosperously. His 
crops were good, corn brought a good price, and his 
sheep and cattle returned a good profit. He had bor- 
rowed money to help stock his farm, and this he was 
able to pay off, as well as to lay by something year by 
year. "I began to think," said he, " that my mountain 
stood strong, and that I should never be moved." His 
wife was prudent and thrifty, and, with four of his six 
children, was a member of the church, of which he had 
been chosen one of the Deacons. 

He was respected and honored by all who knew him, 
and congratulated by his friends as a prosperous and 
well-to-do man. Religion with him was not a hollow 
pretense nor a mere profession. He was a faithful man, 
and oat of his ample income he gave liberally to the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 173 

cause of God, while his gifts fitted him to assist in the 
spiritual duties of the Church. 

But after many years of prosperity, reverses came. 
Everything seemed to go wrong. One of his sons took 
to drink, and became a grief and a curse to him. A 
daughter, the most attractive of them all, foolishly 
listened to the proposals of a man — a dissolute, ignor- 
ant fellow — one of her father's carters. She married 
him, and within three years she was left a widow with 
two small children, a third being added soon afterwards. 
All came home to the farmer for support. 

Then two other daughters were laid low with a 
malignant fever and died; his wife was soon worn out 
with anxiety and fatigue ; and as everybody was afraid 
of the fever, he and the doctor were her sole attendants. 
To make matters worse, a person to whom he had lent 
money, left the village and never repaid him. This 
was not all, a murrain seized his cattle, and he lost 
nearly all of them. This was followed by a bad har- 
vest, and his crops were carried away with the flood. 
Like Job he sat speechless, and wondered what the end 
would be. The next calamity was the death of his wife, 
who sank, overwhelmed by their afflictions. Thus he 
was left a widower, penniless and in debt. No friend 
came forward to help him, and those who had the will 
to assist him had not the ability. 

In the midst of this distress a writ was issued against 
him, and he could see nothing before him but a prison 
and subsequent poverty. He knew, for he had often 
proved, that God is the hearer of prayer, but the blows 
of adversity had so stunned him that he could do little 
besides cry in a few broken sentences to his Father in 
Heaven, the God, who had been his friend and helper 
in times past to undertake for him. But the terrible 
writ hung over him like a dense thunder cloud, and | 
the day for its execution drew nigh. The day before 
the last came, and no help appeared. 



174 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

Before its lingering hours had passed, however, a 
stranger walked into his house, introduced himself by 
name, and said he had walked several miles to see him. 
He was evidently tired and thirsty, and as the farmer 
was about to enter into conversation, the other said, 
" Will you give me a glass of milk?" "I am sorry to 
say," said the farmer, " that all my cows are dead." 
"With considerable emotion the stranger enquired the 
cause of this altered state of things, for now he noticed 
more particularly the haggard appearance of the farmer. 
He listened with evident interest to the relation of the 
various painful visitations which had reduced him to 
his present condition. When he had finished, he 
asked : 

"Do you remember a lad by the name of B , 

whom you once advised and befriended?" " I do," said 
the farmer. "Do you know what has become of him?" 
"No, but I heard that he went to sea some time after." 
"Yes," said the stranger, "he went to Spain, and 
through the assistance that you rendered him, he ac- 
quired property, and has now returned to his native 
land, and God has sent him to help you in your 
trouble." 

So saying, he took out of his pocket-book a check, 
tilled it up for £1,000, and gave it to him. "Accept 
that," said he, "as a proof of my gratitude, and if you 
want more yoiz shall have it." 

The farmer thus taken by surprise, and almost over- 
come by the goodness of God, was about to stammer 
out his gratitude, when the stranger said, " Now let us 
both return thanks to God." And kneeling down, he 
poured out his heart for the farmer and his remaining 
children to Him whose name is Jehovah- Jireh, in 
strains which melted both into tears. The stranger 
left him full of wonder and joy at God's faithful per- 
formance of his ancient promise, by which he had been 
so unexpectedly relieved of his difficulties. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 175 

" The munificent gift," said the old man to James 
Sherman, " enabled me to pay my debts, and take 
another farm, where, through the goodness of God my 
latter end has been better than my beginning." 

James Sherman was then quite a young man, inex- 
perienced in the ways of God, and being himself at that 
time almost penniless, the farmer's story of providing 
care and mercy made a deep impression on his mind. 
He returned to his little room at the college, filled with 
joy and peace in believing. 

In three days' time a surprise came to him in the 
receipt of a parcel containing" Witsius on the Covenant" 
a piece of fine French cloth for a suit of clothes, three 
golden guineas, and several other articles especially 
valuable to him at the time. The parcel contained no 
note, nor anything to indicate the name of the kind 
donor, nor was it until twenty-six years afterwards, that 
he learned to whom he was indebted for such generous 
sympathy and such timely aid. 

Many Christians are deficient in simple, hearty trust 
in God for needed supplies of earthly good; and while 
some lack sufficient energy to use the means within 
their reach others are too prone to lose sight of the 
fact, that " unless the Lord build the house, they labor 
in vain that build it, and so rob God of his glory. The 
way of trusting in the Lord at all times for all things, 
and with all our heart, is not only the wisest and best, 
but is that which brings peace and quiet to our own 
minds and honor to Him. 

"In quietness and confidence is our strength," 
I The birds without barn or storehouse are led. 
From them let us learn to trust for our bread ; 
The good that is wanting shall ne'er be denied, 
So long as 'tis written, "The Lord will provide." 

James Backhouse, in his Travels in South Africa, 
relates the following incident : 



176 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

One of the native chiefs, Molitsani, was a noted 
warrior, and hostilities arose between him and another 
chief with whom my old school -fellow, Thomas Laid- 
man Hodgson, resided as a missionary. Finding that 
there was no hope of any good being done amongst the 
people, under such circumstances, T. L. Hodgson un- 
dertook the responsible, but blessed office of peace- 
maker between the hostile chiefs. Attended only by 
one man, he went to the residence of Molitsani, which 
was, at that time, upon the banks of the Vaal, or Yel- 
low River. On arriving he went directly to the chief 
and told him his business. The chief inquired if he 
was not afraid to come to him in such a manner. T. L. 
Hodgson replied, Xo, and asked why he should be 
afraid when lie came to the chief as his friend, adding 
that he was hungry, and Avished the chief to give him 
something to eat. With this Molitsani complied. He 
also appointed him a hut to sleep in, while he should 
consult his people. The evening was damp, but T. L. 
Hodgson lay down outside the hut, feeling as if he 
should be more in the power of the people if he were 
within it. He felt peaceful in thus taking rest, know- 
ing that he had come on the business of his Lord and 
Master. In relating these circumstances he said that 
he could, experimentally, adopt the language of the 
Psalmist, u I laid me down and slept ; I awaked, for the 
Lord sustained me ;" for he found that the deliberation 
of Molitsani and his counsellors had been, whether 
they should kill him and eat him, or accept the propo- 
sals of with which he was charged, and the Lord had 
inclined their hearts to the latter. 

Although the good missionary might seem to be ex- 
posing himself to great risk in thus visiting a barbarous 
chief, at war with the people amongst whom he was 
living, yet, if he felt that he was performing a service 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 177 

which the Lord required of him, he might well trust 
himself in the Divine hand, without whose permission 
not a hair of his head could fall to the ground. 

Faithfulness to duty will not always prevent our par- 
taking in the outward sufferings which are the com- 
mon lot of mankind. But even in such cases the- 
Lord's children experience the fulfilment of the prom- 
ise, that all things shall work together for good to those 
that fear God. Joseph Oxley records an instance in 
his own experience, in which his obedience to what he 
felt was a Divine command, was the means of preserv- 
ing him from the loss of life. He had been paying a 
religious visit in Ireland, and when about returning to 
his home in England was detained two or three days 
longer than he had expected, by an apprehension of 
duty to visit a few meetings a second time. To this 
requiring, he says, " I was faithful, yet could not see 
any extraordinary service attending, which occasioned 
deep travail in my mind, as in all probability I should 
have gone in a vessel which sailed two or three days* 
before we did, for the same port. But a great mercy 
it was for me that it was otherwise ordered, for we 
were, given to understand, when we got on the coast 
of Liverpool, that the said vessel was lost, and all the 
people perished. So I had to behold the preserving 
hand of the Lord in guiding me by his providence and 
making way for deliverance and escape from the most 
imminent dangers." 

When John Richardson was about to sail to America 
on a religious visit, he says, " I Avent on board a ship 
in the river Thames, and we had not been long there, 
12 



178 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

considering our freedom about going in the ship, when 
it opened clearly in my mind, in the light, that I must 
not go in that vessel, and I said to friends that I could 
not go in her, for I saw nothing but death and darkness 
there. The account of what afterwards happened to 
the ship, I had from two particular friends, in two let- 
ters from London to America, wherein they expressed 
a thankfulness for our deliverance and magnified that 
Hand which wrought it, and preserved us from going 
in that ship, which was lost near the island ot either 
J Jersey or Guernsey, and, as it was said, about seventy 
people were drowned." 

Of the reality of the extension of Divine help for 
the protection of his people, the editor of the Sunday 
School Times says he can give a score of incidents out 
of his own experience, and he knows many others who 
could bear similar testimony to God's readiness to work 
wonders in behalf of those who put their trust in Him. 
One such testimony he records, which was told in his 
hearing, by the late Robert Turnbull, a well-known 
Baptist clergyman of Philadelphia, of Boston, and of 
Hartford. While a little boy in Scotland, he and his 
little sister were overtaken, on the moor, by a bewil- 
dering snow-storm, and they lost their way. Xight was 
coming on, and their danger was imminent. ISTot know- 
ing which way to turn, they stood for a moment dazed, 
when the little sister said, " Robby, let us pray." At 
once they dropped on their knees in prayer. " We had 
been taught to say our prayers, but not to shape our 
own petitions," said Dr. Turnbull, " and so we simply 
said over the Lord's Prayer at this time. But the Lord 
knew we meant all the while, ' Please show us the way 
home.' " As the two children rose from their knees 
they saw just before them, through the snow, a figure 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 179 

moving on slowly, and the sister called out, " Robby ! 
There's old Maggie. She'll show us the way home." 
Old Maggie was a pensioner at the Turnbull's home, 
and the two children started after her, with prompt: 
feet, calling, as they ran, "Maggie! Maggie!" But 
Maggie still kept her distance before them, until, as) 
they followed, she suddenly disappeared. And there, 
just at their left hand, stood their house, which they 
had been led to by means of an optical impression. 
And it would seem that God had taken this way of 
answering these children's prayers. 

A writer in The Guiding Hand mentions that a friend 
and relative, who was a widow, was once brought into 
j circumstances of peculiar straitness and trial. She had 
; two daughters, who exerted themselves with their 
needles to earn a livelihood, and at that time they were 
so busily engaged in trying to finish some work that 
had long been on their hands, they had neglected to 
make provision for their ordinary wants, until they 
found themselves one winter's day in the midst of a 
New England snow-storm, with food and fuel almost 
exhausted, at a distance from neighbors, and without 
any means of procuring needful sustenance. 

The daughters began to be alarmed, and were full 
of anxiety at the dismal prospect, but the good old 
mother said, " Don't worry, girls, the Lord will pro- 
vide. We have enough for to-day, and to-morow may 
be pleasant," and in this hope the girls settled down 
again to their labor. 

Another morning came, and with it no sunshine, but 
wind and snow in abundance. The storm still raged, 
but no one came near the house, and all was dark and 
dismal without. Noon came, and the last morsel of 
food was eaten, the wood was almost gone, and there 
was no tokens of any relief for their necessities. 

The girls became much distressed, and talked anx- 



180 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

iously of their condition, "but their good mother said, 
wi Don't worry, the Lord will provide." But they had 
heard that story the day before, and they knew not the 
strong foundation upon which that mother's trust was 
builded, and could not share the confidence she felt- 
" If we get anything to-day, the Lord will have to 
bring it himself, for nobody else can get here if they 
try," said one of the daughters, impatiently. Bat the 
mother said, "Don't worry," and so they sat down 
again to their sewing, the daughters to muse upon 
their necessitous condition, and the mother to roll her 
burdens on the everlasting Arm. 

While this conversation was going on, an aged ser- 
vant of the Lord, M , sat at his fireside, about a 

mile away, surrounded by every bounty and comfort 
needed to cheer his heart, save the companion of his 
youth, who had long rested in hope beneath the clods 
of the valley, with his only daughter sitting by his 
side. For a long time not a word had been spoken, 
and he had seemed lost in silent meditation, till at 
length he said, "Mary, I want you to go and order the 
cattle yoked, and then get me a bag. I must go and 
carry some wood and flour to sister C." 

" Why, father, it is impossible for you to go. There 
is no track, and it is all of a mile there. You would 
almost perish." 

The old man sat in silence a few moments, and then 
said, " Mary, I must go." She knew her father too 
well to suppose that words would detain him, and 
so complied with his wishes. While she held the bag 
for him she felt, perhaps, a little uneasiness to see the 
flour so liberally disposed of, and said, " I wish you 
would remember that I want to give a poor woman 
some flour, if it ever clears off." The old man under- 
stood the intimation, and said, " Mary, give all you feel 
it a duty to — and when the Lord says, stop, I will do 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 181 

Soon all things were ready, and the patient oxen took 
their way to the widow's home, wallowing through the 
drifted snow and dragging the sled with its load of 
wood and flour. About four o'clock in the afternoon 
the mother had arisen from her work to fix the fire, and 
looking out of the window, she saw the oxen at the 
•door, and she knew that the Lord had heard her cry. 
She said not a word, but presently a heavy step at the 
threshold caused the daughters to look up with aston- 
ishment, as M strode unceremoniously into the 

room, saying, " The Lord told me, sister C, that you 
wanted some wood and flour." 

" He told you the truth," said the widow, " and I will 
praise Him forever. What think you now, girls ?" she 
continued, as she turned in solemn joy to her unbeliev- 
ing daughters. 

The same writer also relates the following incident : 
" In an humble cottage in Connecticut, two sisters were 
watching over and caring for a much-loved brother, 
who, for many long months, had been upon a bed of 
sickness. At length the younger of them began to be 
discouraged. She was dependent for her clothing upon 
Tier labor, her shoes were worn out, and how should 
she get another pair, unless she could leave the sick 
bed, and go away from home and work and earn some 
money ? 

" ' Well,' said the mother, ' I know 3'ou need a pair 
of shoes, but don't worry, the Lord will provide.' 

" ' Do you think that the Lord will come down from 
heaven and buy me a pair of shoes V said the younger 
sister, with an expression of discouragement and vexa- 
tion on her countenance. 

" 'No,' said the mother, ' but perhaps He will put it 
into somebody's heart to buy a pair.' 

"'Perhaps He will, but I don't believe it,' said the dis- 
couraged girl. 



182 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

" ' "Well', said the other sister, who was a little more 
hopeful, 'you won't get them any quicker by fretting, 
so you might as well be quiet.' Thus the subject 
dropped, and the day passed as usual. 

"As the shades of evening were gathering, a brother, 
who lived at some distance, and who knew nothing of 
their previous conversation, called to inquire after their 
prosperity. 

"After the customary salutations, he said, 'You have 
been sick here a long time, and I thought I would 
come around and see if I could not do something for 
you. Thought that perhaps by this time the girls 
needed something,' Then, turning to the younger sis- 
ter, he said, 'How is it, aren't your shoes worn out?' 

" She dropped her eyes, blushed deeply, and, perhaps 
a little conscience smitten, ' answered not a word.' 
Nothing was said of the previous conversation, though 
it was not forgotten by those who heard it. The brother 
soon saw for himself enough to satisfy him, and said 
no more, but went away. The next day two pairs of 
shoes were sent around to her, and with them came to 
her heart a lesson which she never forgot." 

The narrative of Stephen Grellet's travels on the 
Continent of Europe, in the year 1813, furnishes a re- 
markable and instructive illustration of the care of the 
Almighty over his faithful servants ; and of the manner 
in which they are at times safely led through dangers 
of which they are ignorant, by the revelations of his 
own Divine light in their mind ; so that, by following 
the impressions of duty with which He favors them, 
they are guided through perils from which no human 
wisdom could have extricated them. 

At that time Stephen Grellet was at Marseilles, 
France ; and, in the prosecution of his religious visit, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 183 

wished to go to Italy. The country was in an unsettled 
estate owing to the terrific wars in which the French 
were engaged under the lead of Napoleon Bonaparte ; 
and the freedom of action of individuals was greatly 
hampered by the despotism of the police department, 
which looked with suspicion on anything out of the 
usual course. The public meetings which S. Grellet 
had held in the South of France had awakened a de- 
gree of jealousy, of which he seems not to have been 
aware at the time. The usual route from Marseilles 
was through Mont Cenis, and without going a long 
distance round, there was no other course, except a very 
difficult one over precipitous mountains by way of Nice. 
This, he felt it would be right for him to take ; and 
trusting in the Divine Guidance, and being assured 
that the Lord could carry him through all, he went 
like a horse led by a bridle, and reached Nice in safety. 
From that point he w T ent to Genoa, braving the danger 
of meeting with brigands, who were then very numer- 
ous, because many of the young men, who had been 
conscripted for military service, deserted rather than 
join the army, and being afraid to return home, 
sought the means of living by plundering all whom 
they met. 

Of the road from Nice he says, " I found it lay over 
high rocky mountains, by the side of great precipices, 
and so narrow that a misstep of the mule would have 
precipitated us to a great depth. Sometimes even that 
narrow path was covered with rolling stones, and so 
steep that it was like ascending or descending a stair- 
case. I was favored to pass all this without injury, 
though once or twice my mule stopped short, refusing 



184 "FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMABKS. 

to go forward, till my guide, who had kept behind, 
coming in sight, had only to speak, and the mule went, 
on. The scenery before me was frequently very grand, 
so that with admiration I could not help crying out, 
' Great and wonderful are Thy works, Lord God Al- 
mighty !' " 

During my tarriance at Genoa, I was introduced into 
very close exercise of mind and trial of faith. Deep 
had been my concern on account of various parts of 
Italy — Rome, Xaples, &c, — places that I had felt for in 
years past, with an apprehension that I should be re- 
quired to visit them in Gospel love. I thought that the 
time had come for me to engage in that service, especi- 
ally as I was then in Italy. Finding, however, that it 
would be impracticable to go by land to Rome, on 
account of the numerous bands of robbers that attacked 
travellers, even when escorted by large companies of 
soldiers, I cod eluded to try to go there by sea, by way 
of Leghorn. As I was going to engage my passage for 
that port, my mind was introduced into unutterable 
distress — gross darkness seemed to be before me, whilst 
a bright stream of light was behind ; I stood still for 
awhile, and found I could not go forward, I returned 
to my lodgings, and in my chamber poured forth my 
soul unto the Lord, entreating Him to direct me aright. 
He knew it was in obedience to his Divine will that 
I had come to these nations, and that to his Divine 
guidance and almighty protection I had wholly com- 
mitted myself and my all. He very graciously conde- 
scended to be near me in my distress, and to hear the 
voice of my supplication. He gave me to see, and 
strongly to feel, that to Rome, Naples, &c, I should 
indeed go, that I had baptisms there to be baptized 
with, but that the time for it had not yet come, and the 
language of the Spirit was to proceed with all speed 
for Geneva and Switzerland. My soul was greatly 
humbled and tendered before the Lord, who thus con- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 185 

descended to instruct his poor servant, and to direct 
him in the way which He would have him to go. I 
remembered with awful reverence and gratitude the 
gracious promise made me before I left America, when, 
contemplating the extent and magnitude of the Lord's 
work to which I was called, my soul was dismayed : 
" I will teach thee and instruct thee in the way in which 
thou goest, I will guide thee with mine eye." ^N"ow I 
saw how wonderfully my blessed Lord and Kedeemer 
fulfilled his Divine word, and He also renewed a little 
faith in the safety of his guidance and almighty pro- 
tection. 

From Genoa, he went by carriage to Turin. There 
he felt a strong drawing of love towards the Yauclois in 
the valleys of Piedmont, which were not far distant. 
But, in seeking for Divine direction, no way was open 
to pay them a visit at that time. " I felt as if I must 
proceed with all speed for Geneva; the impulse on my 
mind was as if I must flee for my life. Surely the ways 
of the Lord are above our ways ! Vain would it be for 
poor man to inquire why or wherefore it is so ? At 
least I found it so with me. Lender the conviction that 
my only safety was in simple obedience to the Lord, 
I have said, ' Thy will be done.' " Accordingly he took 
passage in a carriage going to Geneva, where he ar- 
rived after a journey of live days and nights. Of his 
feelings at that time, he remarks : — 

As I proceeded on my way, I felt that I was leaving 
a heavy weight behind me, and that a bright light 
shone on my way forward ; such peacefulness accom- 
panied me that I did not feel any weariness from the 
journey; the consolation of the Lord was so richly ex- 
tended to me that my soul was poured forth in reverent 



186 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

gratitude before Him, surprised nevertheless, in having 
been thus driven to Genoa, and now brought to Geneva; 
surely the Lord has wise designs in all this, though I do 
not understand it. 

At Geneva he found considerable religious service 
required of him; and whilst there he learned also why 
it was that he had been led by such a peculiar route, 
and had felt the need of such urgency and haste to 
make' his escape into Switzerland. He says respecting 
this, — 

I now learn that the Prefect at Nismes wrote to the 
Minister of Police at Paris respecting me, as he told 
me he should do. He received an order from him to 
have me arrested, and sent to Paris. In consequence 
he sent his gendarmes after me to Marseilles, expecting 
that I was still there; but finding that 1 had left that 
place for Italy, they did not think I could have at- 
tempted to go there by that difficult road, through 
which the Lord directed my steps, but tbat I must have 
followed the highway through Chambery and Mont 
Cenis; and finding that I had not passed through 
Chambery, they reported to the Prefect that they 
could not discover where I had gone; and again, why 
I have been prevented, in such a remarkable manner 
from going towards Rome, or even among the Wal- 
denses, and felt myself constrained to come here with 
such speed, is now explained as being a very merciful 
interposition of my blessed Master, under whose guid- 
ance I desire to be kept. The armies of Bonaparte 
have met with signal defeats in Germany, at Leipzic 
and in several other places, so that the survivors of his 
once large army, are hastily retiring, some over the 
Rhine to France; and the army of the king of Naples 
to Italy, by way of the Tyrol, the Simplon, &c. ; so that 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 187 

I had hardly left Italy when they began to arrive, closely 
pursued by the Austrians. A delay in Italy of a few 
days longer might have shut me up there, as there is 
no possibility, at present, for anybody to pass away 
from their lines; neither could I now escape from 
Chambery. Thus have I been delivered from two-fold 
dangers, — from being carried to Paris as a prisoner for 
the testimony of Jesus, or shut up in some corner of 
Italy. Bless the Lord, my soul ! trust forever in the 
guidance of his Divine Spirit, who alone can and ought 
to direct thy steps and all thy movements, especially in 
the service of the ministry of the Gospel, to which he 
has called thee. 

The following incident was related by George Dill- 
wyn, of Burlington, E". J., a valued preacher in the 
Society of Friends : — 

One of the solitary habitations in the back settlement 
was occupied by a Friend's family, who lived in such 
secure simplicity that they had hitherto had no appre- 
hension of danger, and used neither bolt nor bar to 
their door, having no other means of securing their 
dwelling from intrusion than by drawing in the leath- 
ern thong by which the wooden latch inside was lifted 
from without. 

The Indians had committed frightful ravages all 
around, burning and murdering without mercy. Every 
evening brought new tidings of horror, and every night 
the unhappy settlers surrounded themselves with such 
defences as they could muster — even then, for dread, 
scarcely being able to sleep. The Friend and his 
family, who hitherto put no trust in the arm of flesh, 
but had left all in the keeping of God, believing that 
man often runs in his own strength to his own injury, 
had used so little precaution that they slept without 
even withdrawing the latch, and were as yet uninjured. 



188 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

Alarmed, however, at length, by the fears of others, 
and by the dreadful rumors that surrounded them, 
they yielded to their fears on one particular night, and 
before retiring to rest drew in the string, and thus 
secured themselves as well as they were able. 

In the dead of the night, the Friend, who had not 
been able to sleep, asked his wife if she slept, and she 
replied that she could not, for her mind was uneasy. 
Upon this he confessed that the same was his case, and 
he believed it would be safest for him to rise and put 
out the string of the latch, as usual. On her approving 
of this, it was done, and the two lay down again, com- 
mending themselves to the keeping of God. 

This had not occurred above ten minutes, when the 
dismal sound of the Avar- whoop echoed through the 
forest, rilling every heart with dread, and almost im- 
mediately afterward they counted the footsteps of seven 
men pass the window of their chamber, which was on 
the ground floor, and the next moment the door-string 
was pulled, the latch lifted, and the door opened. A 
debate of a few minutes took place, the purport of 
which, as it was in the Indian language, was unintelli- 
gible ; but that it was favorable to them was proved by 
the door being again closed, and the Indians retiring 
without crossing the threshold. 

The next morning they saw the smoke rising from 
burning habitations all around them ; parents were 
weeping for their children who were carried off, and 
children lamenting over their parents who had been 
cruelly slain. 

Some years afterward, when peace was restored, and 
the colonists had occasion to hold conference with the 
Indians, this Friend was appointed as one for that pur- 
pose, and, speaking in relation to the Indians, he related 
the above incident ; in reply to which an Indian ob- 
served that, by the simple circumstance of putting out 
the latch-string, which proved confidence rather than 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 189 

fear, their lives and property had been saved ; for that 
he himself was one of the marauding party, and that, 
on finding the door open, it was said : "These people 
shall live ; they will do us no harm, for they put their 
trust in the Great Spirit." 

A family of Quakers settled in a remote part of 
Pennsylvania, then exposed to the savage incursions 
of the Indians. They had not been there long before 
a party of Indians, panting for blood, started on one 
of their terrible excursions, and passed in the direction 
of the Quaker's abode. Though disposed at first to 
assail him and his family as enemies, they were treated 
with such open-hearted confidence, and with such cor- 
diality and kindness, as completely disarmed them of 
their purpose. They came forth, not against such per- 
sons, but against their enemies. They thirsted for the 
blood of those who injured them ; but these children 
of Peace, unarmed and entirely defenceless, met them 
only with the accents of love and deeds of kindness. 

It was not in the heart even of a savage to harm 
them ; and, on leaving the Quaker's house, the Indians 
took a white feather, and stuck it over the door, to 
designate the place as a sanctuary not to be harmed by 
their brethren in arms. Nor was it harmed. The war 
raged all around it; the forest echoed often to the 
Indians' yell, and many a white man's hearth was 
drenched in his own blood; but over the Quaker's 
humble abode gently waved the white feather of peace, 
and beneath it his family slept without harm or fear. 

Shortly before the Revolutionary War, there were 
a few families of Friends who had removed from 
Duchess County, and settled at Easton, then in Saratoga 
County, State of New York. That country was then 
new, and there were but few inhabitants : and the near- 
est meeting being at too great a distance to be regularly 



190 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

attended, these Friends requested the privilege of 
holding a meeting for religious worship, which was 
granted. 

This section of the country proved to be one which 
was so much distressed by scouting parties from both 
the British and American armies, that the American 
Government, unable to protect the inhabitants, issued 
a proclamation, directing them to leave their country ; 
and most of the people went. Friends requested to be 
permitted to exercise their own judgment, saying, 
" You are clear of us, as you have warned us." They 
accordingly remained at their homes, and kept up their 
meetings. 

Robert Nesbit, who lived at that time at East Hoosick, 
about thirty miles distant, felt it right to walk through 
the wilderness country, and attend one of their week- 
day meetings. After Friends had assembled, and were 
sitting in the meeting with the door open, they per- 
ceived an Indian peeping around the door-post. When 
he saw Friends sitting in silence, he stepped forward 
and took a full view of everything that was in the 
house; then beckoning to his company, they placed 
their arms in a corner of the room, took seats, and 
remained till the meeting closed. 

Zebulon Hoxie, one of the Friends present, then in- 
vited the Indians to his house, and, placing some bread 
and cheese on a table, desired them to help them- 
selves. After they had eaten, they went quietly 
away. 

Robert Nesbit, who could speak the French lan- 
guage, had a conversation with the leader of the In- 
dians, who told him that they surrounded the meeting- 
house, intending to destroy all who were in it; "but," 
said he, " when we saw you sitting with your door 
open, and no weapons of defence, we had no disposition 
to hurt you; we would have fought for you." 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 191 

A writer in the New York Observer relates a remark- 
able circumstance that was told him by a Methodist 
friend whom he loved and esteemed, but who belonged 
to a different religious denomination from himself, al- 
though, he says, " I found that we agreed in our reli- 
gion, as probably, at heart, most all men who have 
solemn moments do." This substantial agreement in 
practical religion, which may exist even where the opin- 
ions of people are very different, flows from the fact 
that all true religion depends on the work of the Spirit 
of Christ in the heart of man, bringing him into sub- 
jection to the Divine government, and enabling him to 
forsake his sins and live holily, justly and unblamably." 
As it flows from the same fountain, it will necessarily 
be similar in all who partake of it. 

In reply to the query, Why he was a Methodist ? the 
man replied as follows : 

It was my mother's church, that is why, and I am 
certain that her prayers were heard on high. It was 
demonstrated to me once, while I was yet a boy, and 
it not only made me a better one, but helps my efforts 
as a man. It was on this wise : We were very humble 
in our status, and were very poor. My father, through 
ill health, had first lost occupation, and then had gone 
to bed, it seemed, to die. ISTo funds came in, our all 
had been expended several days. I had just returned 
from my fruitless efforts to get any work, and found 
my mother seated, stricken with dismay, amid the little 
group of still more hunger-stricken baby mouths that 
wailed to her for bread. Of this, there literally was 
none. The cupboard now, indeed, was bare. It had 
been so so long that famine, visaged with despair, was 
now our guest, and seated at the board. After I had 



192 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

related my boyish failure to obtain help without, my 
mother sat a moment, pitiably crushed, then, with 
agony, she threw herself upon her knees, and prayed, 
as Hagar did, " My God, give us our daily bread !" That 
instant, shall I ever forget it ? said the good, gray-haired 
old patriarch, as tears rolled down his kindly, furrowed 
cheeks, and while my own heart cried, its " Amen" to 
the throne on high, there came a knock so loud at the 
door that, rising with a face resigned and quieted by 
prayer, my mother opened it. A man standing there 
threw down a heavy bag of meal, saying, " I am ordered 
to leave this here." " I fear you are mistaken, sir," 
my mother said, " for we have not ordered it." "Are 

you not the wife of John ?" he replied. " Yes, 

sir," was the answer. " Then I am right. This is the 
place. I was to hurry. It is paid for and all right. 
Good evening." He was gone. My mother closed the 
door, and once more falling on her knees, she thanked 
the God who sent us of his plenty. Somehow we 
mended from that very moment. My father rapidly 
got better, then found work, and in due time we were 
able to come to America. 

A year or two after this, the old gentleman went on, 
there was a revival in a town where we were living, in 
the course of which a man got up and said, " Well, my 
friends, my own conversion came about in this wise : I 
am a miller, as my people always were. I was well-to- 
do in life, but labored hard and faithfully for all I had. 
One afternoon, when grist was dull, and I was weary, 
I retired to sleep, but had no sooner fallen off than a 
voice said to me, so distinctly that I awoke, 'Arise and 

send John a bag of meal.' It startled me, but as 

it was a dream, I once more composed myself to sleep. 
Again a sharper summons roused me, using the same 
words. This time I was disturbed in mind, but as I 
knew no such a man, and could not yet believe my 
senses, I again fell fast asleep. And now the summons 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMAKKS. 193 

was repeated so imperatively, as if surprised and almost 
outraged at my heedlessness, that I could mistake it no 
longer. * Why do you delay ? Arise, and send John 

a bag of meal. He lives at . Give it freely. 

And haste then on about thine own affairs.' I arose, 
and dressing, filled the largest bag I had, and sent it 
by my wagon as rapidly as I could. But the mystery 
grew on me, till I grew myself to know the God of 
heaven." 

When the narrator had seated himself, my mother, 
who had visibly trembled as he rose, stood up and 
asked the gentleman, " Did you never find out, sir, who 
this man might be?" " No" he replied; "but soon 
after I took occasion to inquire quietly around, and 
found out he was poor and worthy, but had left, for 
where, I could not learn." " He is my husband, sir," 
my mother said, " and your gift was God's own answer 
to prayer." 

" I need not describe the scene further," said the old 
Methodist, "but that is why I keep my mother's faith, 
and yet am liberal to all other creeds." 

The person who furnished the above incident to the 

New York Observer says, in reference to it, " Let those 

call this coincidence who will, but let them also have 

the grace to thank the God who rules coincidence, in 

that He has so ordained even the laws of accident that 

they may sometimes minister to human needs." And 

he further observes, when speaking of the difference in 

dreams, between those which have a special significance 

and those which have not : " When one can feel with 

Daniel that the ' dream is certain, and its interpretation 

sure,' then surely does it well behoove him to attend 

to what the vision seems to bid." 

The Christian publishes another remarkable incident, 
13 



194 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

which was furnished by the secretary of the London 
Open Air Mission. The dream occurred to one of the 
out-door preachers in the streets of East London. He 
said : 

A friend gave me five pounds to give to the poor. 
My mind was somewhat exercised as to the selection 
of the most deserving cases, and after asking for Divine 
guidance, I went to bed. During the night, in my 
dream, there stood at the foot of my bed a good Chris- 
tian man, J , whom I had known for ten years, and 

always considered, as the owner of two small shops, in 
comparatively comfortable circumstances, but this night 
the look of distress on his countenance was something 
appalling. 9 

At the same time the donor stood by my bedside, 
and, in a very deliberate manner, put in my hand — 
counting the money — three pounds seventeen shillings 
and sixpence, then looked at me earnestly, then turned 
his eyes to my distressed friend at the foot of the bed, 

J , as much as to say, " That is the particular 

amount he is in need of. Go and give it to him." 

On waking the next morning, I related the matter 
to my wife, and said, " I shall certainly go and see 
J to-night," and accordingly went, carefully tak- 
ing four pounds in my pocket. I sat in his house, 
talking with his wife and his mother for about half an 
hour, hoping they would let me know if anything were 
amiss, but not a word was dropped about it. At last I 
said : 

" Mrs. J , I hope you will excuse me, but I want 

to know if there is anything peculiar in your circum- 
stances at the present time, and if so, will you object 
to tell me?" 

I noticed immediately the sudden exchange of glances 
between the wife and the mother. And the wife re- 
plied, ""Well, Mr. Hamilton, as you have asked that 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 195 

question, I am bound to tell you. My husband has a 
bill that will become due to-morrow for forty pounds, 
and all he is got is thirty-six pounds, and that four 
pounds he has tried hard, but cannot possibly get it any- 
where — and, though he is suffering from bronchitis, 
yet, this fearful night, amidst wet and fog and cold, he 
has gone to Croydon to try and sell enough to meet 
the bill, or we are ruined." 

I simply rose from my seat, gave her the pounds, and 
with a few kindly words, departed. On my way home, 
as though evidence must be multiplied that I had been 
rightly guided, I met an excellent young Christian 
woman whom I had known several years, to whom I 
related the circumstances, carefully avoiding any refer- 
ence to the name or neighborhood. 

" Oh !■" she replied. " Why, I know where you have 
been. You have been to J 's." 

I replied, " How do you know that?" " How do I 
know that," asked she. " Because his trouble over that 
was so great that for several nights he has called a few 
friends to his house to ask the Lord to help him out 
of his difficulty, and I was one of them, and the Lord 
has sent you." 

I called the next morning. He had not taken one 
farthing from his journey to Croydon, and came home 
with a broken heart, not knowing but wife, large fam- 
ily of little children, aged mother and himself, an in- 
valid, would all be turned into the street soon, when, 
lo ! the money was awaiting his return. In the morn- 
ing he looked at, and made me look at, his cash-box, 
where I saw the forty pounds. He then said : 

" Do you know I have opened the children's money- 
boxes, and have got there two shillings and sixpence." 

Thus, if I had given the three pounds seventeen shil- 
lings and sixpence, the children's money-boxes would 
exactly have made up the needed four pounds. 

The donor of the five pounds was much interested 



196 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

in the circumstances when I told him. I also men- 
tioned it to two infidels, who said it was remarkably 
strange, but Christians say it is an answer to earnest 
prayer and a cause for devout thankfulness to God. 

Those who choose the Lord for their portion, and 
endeavor to keep a conscience void of offence towards 
Him, may rely on the assurance, "He is my refuge and 
my fortress." Such have often found Him to be a 
deliverer in time of trouble. 

An incident related in the life of John Roberts or 
Hayward, shows in an interesting manner the care of 
the Lord over those who are sincerely endeavoring to- 
be faithful to that which He requires of them. It was 
a time of much persecution in England on account of 
religion; and John had been unjustly and illegally 
committed to prison by one of the magistrates, who 
was very abusive, and even spoke of cutting his throat. 
In the evening his uncle, who was one of the Justices, 
came to the prison, and gave him liberty to go to his 
own home, until the time of the next assizes. Accord- 
ingly on the morrow he went home. His son who 
relates the account says : — 

In the night, a concern came upon him with such 
weight that it made him tremble. My mother asked 
the reason of it; he answered, "The Lord requires 
hard things of me ; if it would please Him, I had rather 
lay down my life than obey Him in what He requires 
at my hands." To which my mother replied, "If thou 
art fully persuaded the Lord requires it of thee, I would 
not have thee disobey Him : for He will require noth- 
ing of us but what He will enable us to go through ; 
therefore we have good cause to trust in Him." On 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 197 

which he said, " I must go to this John Stephens who is 
my great enemy, and sent me to prison, where he said 
he would secure me ; and as my uncle Solliss in kind- 
ness has given me leave to come home, I can expect no 
more favor from him, if I now go and run myself into 
the mouth of my adversary. But I must go, whatever 
\ I suffer." 

He arose and prepared for his journey; but durst 
eat or drink nothing. When he mounted his horse, 
the command of the Lord was to him, "Remember Lot's 
wife, look not back." So on he rode very cheerfully 
eight or nine miles, till he came within sight of the 
justice's house; and then he let in the reasoner, who 
reasoned him out of all his courage, presenting to his 
mind, that his uncle Solliss and his neighbors would 
say, "He had no regard for his wife and family, thus 
to push himself into the hands of his greatest enemy." 
This brought such a cloud over his mind, that he 
.alighted off his horse and sat down upon the ground, 
to spread his cause before the Lord. After he had 
waited some time in silence, the Lord appeared and 
■dissipated the cloud, and his word was to him, " Go, 
and I will go with thee, and will give thee a threshing 
instrument, and thou shalt thresh the mountains." 
Now he was exceedingly overcome with the love of 
God : and I have often heard him say, he was filled like 
a vessel that wanted vent, and said in his heart, Thy. 
presence is enough, and proceeded to the house with great 
satisfaction. 

He was soon called [into the justice's room] ; and my 
father no sooner saw him, but he believed the Lord 
had been at work upon him ; for as he behaved to him 
with the fierceness of a lion before, he now appeared to 
him like a lamb, meeting him with a pleasant counte- 
nance, and taking him by the hand, said, "Friend 
Hayward, how do you do?" My father answered, 
" Pretty well;" and then proceeded thus : "I am come 



198 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

in the fear and dread of Heaven, to warn thee to repent 
of thy wickedness with speed, lest the Lord cut the 
thread of thy life, and send thee to the pit that is bot- 
tomless. I am come to warn thee in great love, 
whether thou wilt hear or forbear, and to preach the 
everlasting Gospel to thee." The justice replied, "You 
are a welcome messenger to me ; that is what I have 
long desired to hear." " The everlasting Gospel," re- 
turned my father, "is the same that God sent his ser- 
vant John to declare, when he saw an angel fly through 
the midst of Heaven, saying with a loud voice, " Fear 
God, and give glory to his name, and worship Him 
who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains 
of water." The justice then caused my father to sit 
down by him on his couch, and said, " I believe your 
message is of God, and I receive it as such. I am sorry 
I have done you wrong; I will never wrong you more. 
I would pray }-ou to forgive me." After much more 
discourse, he offered my father the best entertainment 
his house afforded; but my father excused himself 
from eating or drinking with him at that time, expres- 
sing his kind acceptance of his love; and so in much 
love they parted. 

While John Roberts was from home on his visit to 
Justice Stephens, his wife went to a meeting appointed 
the same day by William Dewsbury. But she was 
under so much mental exercise on her husband's ac- 
count that she could receive but little benefit from it. 
After the meeting was ended, William Dewsbury 
walked to and fro in a long passage, groaning in spirit: 
and by and by came up to the wife, and, though she 
was a stranger to him, he laid his hand upon her head, 
and said, " Woman, thy sorrow is great: I sorrow with 
thee." Then walking a little to and fro as before, he 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 199 

came to her again and said, " Now the time is come, 
that those who marry must be as though they married 
not, and those who have husbands as though they had 
none; for the Lord calls for all to be offered up." By 
this she saw the Lord had given him a sense of her 
great burthen; for she had not discovered her exercise 
to any; and it gave her such ease in her mind, that she 
went home rejoicing in the Lord. She no sooner got 
home, but she found her husband returned from the 
justice's, where his message had been received in such 
love as was far from their expectation; "the sense of 
which," says the narrative, "much broke them into 
tears, in consideration of the great goodness of God, 
in so eminently making way for and helping them 
that day." 

Although in this case the Lord was pleased to deliver 
his servant from the apparent danger; yet it would 
have been no just cause for complaint if He had per- 
mitted the justice again to send him to the jail from 
which he had just been delivered. In those days, there 
were thousands of his fellow professors, who suffered 
cruel imprisonments and other hardships, for their 
faithfulness to the commands of their Divine Master. 
But these were not forsaken; and often the prison 
house was made as a sanctuary, where heavenly peace, 
comfort and joy consoled these saints amid their out- 
ward afflictions. And when, as many times was the 
case, they sank under the unhealthy influences of their 
confinement, they found it was the blessed means of 
more quickly introducing them into the company of 
saints and angels, and the spirits of just men made 



200 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

perfect, where they could join in the song of thanks- 
giving to Him who had redeemed them. The Almighty 
Ruler of the Universe will carry out his own plans in 
his own way and time; and no efforts of man can 
thwart them. What he requires of man is faithful 
obedience to his commands. 

The Methodist records an interesting case, in which 
one who felt the convictions of Divine Grace could find 
no peace or settlement of mind, until he had been 
made willing to submit himself in all things to the 
Lord's government. It was a time of religious revival 
in the section of Ohio in which the man resided; and 
he felt with the others the need of the converting 
power of the Lord. As he wrestled in spirit for the 
blessing, the question presented to his mind, as to what 
he would do with his crop of corn. He was a farmer, 
and most of his neighbors sold their corn crops to the 
distillers to be converted into whiskey. He tried to 
dismiss the question from his mind, as one that was not 
his present concern. But whenever he attempted to 
pray to the Lord, the subject of his corn would come 
up; and the conviction was fastened upon him, that 
he could not expect to have a clean heart unless he was 
willing to o-ive to the Lord a clean business. It was 
a close trial of faith and allegiance. For the man was 
in debt, and relied upon this crop to 'pay a mortgage 
which rested on his farm. The distillers were the 
principal, and in that neighborhood almost the only 
purchasers, and paid the highest price. Day after day 
as he struggled with his conviction of duty, his distress 
increased, and the cloud over him increased in darkness, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 201 

until in Iris agony he cried out, "O Lord, I will sell no 
more corn to the distillers. It may rot in the cribs, or 
the fowls of the air may carry it off kernel by kernel." 
When he had thus yielded to the Divine requiring, 
great was the peace and joy that flowed into his soul. 

This would have been an ample reward for his 
obedience, even if his corn had been altogether lost. 
But it was so ordered, that the succeeding summer was 
unusually dry. Crops were light in consequence, the 
price of corn nearly doubled, and his having been un- 
sold in the previous winter was now needed for food, 
and was sold at an advance sufficient to pay off all his 
mortgage. 

There is much instruction in the experience of Rich- 
ard Davies, a member of the Society of Friends and a 
native of Wales, who lived in the days of religious per- 
secution. 

One of the first Friends he had met with when a lad 
had been a man by the name of Roger Pri chard, who 
at that time had been a minister in the new denomina- 
tion. He had helped the lad in his spiritual exercises, 
but as the years rolled on, they lost sight of each other, 
and Prichard, through fear of the sufferings he encoun- 
tered at every turn, became unfaithful to the ministry 
he had received. Left in the darkness that his disobe- 
dience had induced, he finally denied the very faith 
that he once so ardently contended for. But when P. 
Davies was about thirty-five }^ears of age, he, in one of 
his journeys, ran across his old acquaintance of nearly 
twenty years before, and was the means, under Divine 



202 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

Providence, of restoring the latter into fellowship with 
Friends. He says : 

At the lower end of the county of Radnor we had a 
sweet living meeting, and the power of the Lord ten- 
dered the hearts of many. When the meeting was 
ended we drew a little aside from Friends, being bowed 
before the Lord in a sense of his goodness amongst us. 
After a little while I turned my face towards the Friends, 
and saw a man coming towards me in much broken- 
ness and tears, and when he came to me he took me in 
his arms and held me there. I was very tender of him, 
though I knew him not. He asked me if I did not 
know him. I told him I did not. He said he had cause 
to remember me. When I looked upon him again, I 
asked him whether he was not Roger Pricharcl. He 
said he was the man that had gone astray. And I was 
glad, yea, very glad, that the lost sheep was found and 
that he came to know the true Shepherd and his voice 
in himself, and he followed Him and went not astray 
again as he did before. 

We went thence towards Pembrokeshire, where we 
had several good meetings, and the Lord was with us. 
Then we came homewards, and before we parted with 
Roger Prichard we appointed a meeting at his house, 
which was at Almeley-Wooten. The Lord helped us 
on our journey, and we came there according to the 
time appointed, and a large, sweet, comfortable meeting 
we had. I know not that any meeting had been there 
before. I appointed another meeting to be there, and 
in a few weeks after my return home, I went accord- 
ingly. 

The concern of that part of the county of Hereford- 
shire was much upon me, and I was often there, and 
when the people of that village saw me come, they 
would say one to another, " Come, let us go to Mr. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 203 

Prichard's, for we shall have prayers there to-night," 
and the house, hath soon near filled with people. A 
comfortable time we used to have together, and many 
were gathered to the Lord in those parts. As for Roger 
Prichard, the Lord blessed him in basket and in store, 
and his heart and house were open to Friends, and he 
built a fine meeting-house at his own charge, and also 
gave a burying-place, and settled both upon Friends 
for that service, and lived and died in love and favor 
with God and in unity with his brethren. " Say to the 
righteous, it shall go well with them." 

The Friends of that day in Wales suffered much, 
from the action of men called Informers. These men 
would inform on the exercises of the persecuted de- 
nomination when in their meetings for Divine worship, 
and would find their pay for this disreputable work in 
receiving part of the proceeds of the fines levied by 
the magistrates to whom the information was conveyed. 
Thus it often happened that honorable and gifted min- 
isters of the Gospel would become the prey of idle> 
deceitful and wicked men. But happily for Richard 
Davies, his liberty-loving Welsh neighbors seemed to 
take small stock in such miserable methods to injure a 
man, who, while belonging to a despised sect, was yet 
respected and loved by men of all creeds. 

Right under the room where the Friends of that 
locality held their meetings, was the abode of a man 
named John David, who took upon himself the busi- 
ness of informer against the Quakers. This man, when 
once going by R. Davies' barn, said to some of the 
neighbors of the latter, " These cattle are all mine." 
They asked how they were his. He replied, "Richard 
Davies has preached three times this day, and, by the 



204 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

laws, there is sixty pounds on the preacher for the 
same." Soon it was noised around that Richard Da- 
vies was likely to be financially ruined. His neighbors 
were much concerned, and one of them, an alderman 
and a relation of his, came to him and chidingly asked 
if he had a mind to ruin his wife and family — could he 
not leave off his preaching, when he knew the laws 
were so severe against them ? Davies replied that he 
could not when the Lord required it of him, and de- 
sired his relation to let the informer alone, and let 
things take their course. But this relation, who seems 
to have been somewhat of a Friend in some respects, 
and a very poor Friend in others, replied that he would 
not let the man alone. He said, " I will tell thee what 
I will do. I will take him along with me to Severn- 
side, and whet my knife very sharp, and I will cut oft* 
one of the rogue's ears. And if he ever informs against 
thee again I will cut off the other." R. Davies finally 
induced his zealous friend to not injure his persecutor. 

This informer w T as a weaver by trade, and so incensed 
were the neighbors at his taking advantage of a perni- 
cious law, that they took their work away from him. 
His children were soon begging, but received little 
help, some of the townspeople telling them that their 
father had got a new money-making trade on hand, and 
there was no need for them to give anything. Conse- 
quently the little children suffered much, and when in 
this condition they received assistance from R. Davies' 
wife, who literally fed her enemies. 

Even the town jailer ridiculed the, by this time, un- 
fortunate informer. Once, when R. Davies was going 
down the street, the jailer said to the informer, " Mr. 
Informer, you see Richard Davies is going out to preach 
somewhere to-day. I advise you to look out diligently 
after your business, and find him out. If you will not 
inform against him I will inform against you. You 
have got a good trade in hand." Thus he was jeered 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 205 

as lie started out to obtain a warrant from Lord Her- 
bert, who, when he ascertained the object of his errand, 
was very angry, and declared that he would not issue 
a warrant against the loving and peaceable Quakers. 
Herbert doubtless recollected his previous interview 
with R. Davies, and exclaimed, " Is it not sufficient to 
put my peaceable neighbors in prison ? Must I give a 
warrant to make such a rogue as this rich by ruining 
them and their families ?" So the rebuffed informer 
returned to his home. Later he met with Richard 
Davies and asked his forgiveness, acknowledging that 
he and his family had been ruined by his own wicked 
behavior. The man was freely forgiven by the Friend, 
and never again made any trouble. 

In the year 1675 the Friends of Merionethshire were 
much persecuted by the action of informers, especially 
at a town called Penllyn. Hearing this, R. Davies 
and his friend, Charles Lloyd, were concerned to visit 
the meeting held there, which was larger than the 
house could hold. At the meeting also came two in- 
formers, with warrants to arrest the preachers. But so 
overcome were these men by the ministry of the vis- 
itors, that the conclusion of the meeting found them 
utterly incapable of serving the warrants. 

R. Davies says of this incident, " The two informers 
kneeled on their knees with us while I was at prayer, 
and one of them, named Robert Evans, did exceedingly 
tremble, and when I had concluded the meeting, the 
said Robert Evans took a paper out of his pocket, with 
much trembling and shaking, and could say nothing to 
us but 'A warrant, a warrant, a warrant.' Friends 
stood quiet in the possession of that life and power that 
God had blessed them withal that day, and we said 
nothing to him, nor he to us, which was almost an 



206 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

amazement to the spectators, for he was an envions, 
spiteful man that had done much spoil upon Friends 
in those parts. At last I asked him what he had there. 
He told me he had a warrant. I desired him to let me 
see it. He was not willing to let me see it, but said if 
we would come a little further on our way we could 
see it. We told Friends we were not bound to follow 
him, and desired Friends to depart to their habitations, 
but our loving, tender-hearted Friends would not part 
with us. Charles Lloyd and I had a great mind to see 
what the tenor of his warrant was and who the justices 
were that signed it. So we went along with him to the 
house where he said we should see it. We told him 
he should have it safe again, and at last he let us see 
it," They then found that the papers had been issued 
by a Colonel Salisbury, many of whose tenants were 
Friends, and also by a Colonel Price, who had been an 
old schoolmate and was a relation of Charles Lloyd. 

The two Friends started that very night to hunt up 
the persecuting colonels, so as to lay before the latter 
the sufferings of their brethren. Price was at home, 
but refused to see them. They then journeyed on to 
see Colonel Salisbury. He, too, being conscious of the 
evil he had clone, refused to allow them to be admitted 
into his house. As a last resort, they sent word by one 
of his servants that they had come a long way to see 
both him and their suffering friends in that country, and 
that Charles Lloyd, as a relation, would desire to see 
him. But this final request was of no avail, and, foiled in 
their efforts, the two Friends departed. They then 
continued their visit in that locality, and returned to 
their families. 

E. Davies did not give up his efforts .to relieve the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 207 

suffering Friends of Merionthetshire, but soon after 
called on Lord Powis, whom he speaks of as being a 
particular friend of his. He induced Powis to have 
the Duke of Beaufort write a letter to Colonel Price, 
which was accordingly done. The letter read as fol- 
lows : " Sir, I have stopped the complaint of his 
Majesty's subjects, called Quakers, from coming before 
the council-board, concerning the severe persecution 
of the penal laws against them." Just as soon as P. 
Davies had secured this letter he hastened to have it 
delivered to Colonel Price. The good effect was at 
once apparent. Not only was the persecution stopped, 
but the magistrates commenced to call the informer to 
account for the money he had collected from the 
Friends. This he was unable to do, and, as a conse- 
quence, was in turn almost financially ruined himself. 
" So, "says P. Davies, " it pleased God that himself fell 
into the snare and evil that he intended against his 
neighbors." 

It is a precious thought that the Lord watches over 
his children, as a tender father does over his sons and 
daughters ; and if they are obedient to the intimations 
He gives them, not only often protects them from dan- 
gers, but enables them to be as instruments in his hands 
for the<good of others. 

In the African's Friend for Third Month, 1892, an 
instructive illustration of this truth is given by one of 
the parties thereto. He says : — 

During the summer of 1879 or 1880, almost daily for 
some weeks, I was drawn through the gentle intima- 
tions of required duty to retire near an open window 



208 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

(the weather being warm) in the back part of my store, 
and there read aloud a chapter in the New Testament, 
followed by the reading in like manner of a psalm, and 
frequently would be thus engaged in this unusual vocal 
exercise, unconsciously on my part; and why, or for 
what purpose, I was led to do so, I could not tell, and 
for the time being, it was veiled in mystery. I had 
rented the upper stories of my building for a dwelling 
to a family, which comprised a widowed mother and 
four daughters, who, while professedly members of a 
large and influential religious denomination, were in- 
clined to a life of gayety and self-indulgence in the 
fashionable amusements of the day. It was to gratify 
this passion for the enjoyment of worldly pleasures that 
induced the eldest daughter one afternoon on the First- 
day of the week to go on a steamboat excursion to 
Wilmington, Delaware. The trip was attended with 
her taking a severe cold, which eventually terminated 
in a fatal pulmonary disease, her illness lasting through 
a period of about two years. Some time after her 
death, the Rector of the Epiphany Protestant Episcopal 
Church, located at the corner of Fifteenth and Chest- 
nut Streets, Philadelphia, called at my store, and ques- 
tioned me in relation to my having the preceding 
summer been in the habit of withdrawing at a certain 
hour in the day to an open window, and there reading 
aloud a chapter in the Xew Testament, followed by the 
reading of a psalm. I replied that such was the case, 
but for what particular object I had not the most re- 
mote idea; neither could I give any valid reason there- 
fore, only that I would be thus occupied in reading 
aloud in the same place, and at about the same hour, 
nearly every day. He then went on to' narrate that the 
young woman above alluded to was a member of his 
church congregation, and it was in the line of his duty 
as her pastor and spiritual adviser, to visit her while 
confined in her sick chamber, which he did for a num- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 209 

bei of times, and, as he apprehended, with but little 
satisfaction or profit to either part}', she apparently 
having steeled herself against every thought and im- 
pression which tended to remind her of that goal to- 
wards which she was so surely hastening. In one of 
his subsequent visits he said he perceived a change had 
been wrought in her feelings and manners by an influ- 
ence independent of any agency of his own. That the 
aversion with which she had hitherto shrunk from the 
contemplation of her approaching end seemed removed, 
and a disposition manifested to no longer evade that 
deep-searching and contrition of heart which she now 
realized was so essential to the salvation of her immor- 
tal soul ; and in the course of another visit, she fully 
and unreservedly unfolded to him how that in going to 
the window of her room to enjoy the fresh air, and for 
temporary relief from pain, her attention was attracted 
in hearing our friend, standing at the window below, 
reading a chapter in the K"ew Testament, followed by 
the reading of a psalm, which she said she could dis- 
tinctly hear, although she was altogether hidden from 
his view. At length, after listening to these repeated 
readings, she became deeply imbued with a conscious- 
ness of the transgressions and follies of her past life, 
and her soul aroused to the imperative necessity for a 
true repentance of and remission of her sins^ prepara- 
tory to an entrance into another and a better world. 
Her pastor then went on to relate: "Thus, unknown 
to yourself, were your daily readings made instrumental 
in the Divine hand of so softening her hitherto cold 
and callous heart as to render it susceptible to the visi- 
tation of the spirit of Divine grace, by which she was 
enabled, through the condescending love and mercy 
of her holy Redeemer, to witness her iniquities par- 
doned, and her sins washed away in the blood of they 
Lamb." 7 

14 



210 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

In the Friends' Intelligencer and Journal, the follow- 
ing incident is described, the truth of which is vouched 
for:— 

A woman who was at home alone one night with 
her little children, saw by the movements of her ward- 
robe door that some one was inside of it. Without 
apparently knowing this, she quieted one of her little 
ones who was restless, put out the light, and retired as 
usual. But before getting into bed, she made an earn- 
est, heart-felt prayer, audibly. She says, she felt she 
was under the influence of the Spirit, and she had no 
fear. Soon after she was quiet in her bed, she heard 
the door of the closet open, some one come out, go 
down stairs, and leave the house. Then when fortitude 
was no longer needed, she gave way to the natural 
physical weakness, and wept herself to sleep. 

Some time afterwards the same woman with her 
husband, owing to a detention upon a railroad journey, 
was stopped at a place she had never before visited. 
There was a little house near, at which refreshments 
were sold, the proprietor of which urged them to come 
there and get something to eat. While there he said 
to the woman, "Did you know there was a man in your 
room at such a time?" She said, "I did." He replied. 
"That night you not only saved your life, and perhaps 
that of your children, but you saved mine. After your 
prayer I determined I would never live by evil means 
again. I reformed, saved my money, and when I was 
able to do so, married the best woman in the world." 
He then introduced his wife, and this woman whose 
faith had saved him, has ever since maintained a pleas- 
ant intercourse with them both. 

An old number of Chambers Edinburgh Journal con- 
tains the following narrative : — 

Upon the 4th of April, 1823, I was pacing as usual 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 211 

the Glasgow Exchange rooms, when my eyes got a 
glimpse of some Jamaica Gazettes on a side table and 
remembering that piracies were then prevalent in the 
West Indies, I glanced over them till I met with a case 
which arrested my attention. One Henrique Bnche 
liad been recently tried in Jamaica for piracy, on the 
testimony of a person who swore that he was a mariner 
in the ship Malcom, belonging to James Strang & Co., 
merchants in Leith ; that they sailed from that harbor 
on the 9th of November, 1819, and upon the 30th of 
December following, whilst in the Bay of Honduras, 
they were boarded by pirates ; that these plundered the 
ship of a great variety of stores, of which the witness 
specified the weights, quantities and qualities with such 
a minuteness which seemed to me quite incredible, as 
he confessedly took no notes of them at the time ; was 
a mere forecastle man ; was stationed at the helm all 
the time ; and that several years had elapsed since the 
alleged piracy took place. The witness added that the 
pirates departed with their booty, and he did not see 
any of them till three years afterwards, when he pointed 
out to a police officer the prisoner at the bar as one of 
them, whilst he was entering the harbor of Kingston 
in a boat. 

The only other witness was the police officer who 
had seized poor Buche on the allegation of the sailor, 
so that the latter was the sole witness to the crime 
charged — a charge which Henrique Buche indignantly 
denied on his trial, stating that, if an extension of time 
had been allowed him, he could have proved that he 
was of respectable connections in the Island of Guada- 
loupe, where he possessed a competency which placed 
him far beyond the necesshyy of following the infamous 
and perilous profession of a pirate ; adding that it would 
be seen from Lloyd's lists that no ship of the name 



212 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

stated by the crown witness had left Leith at the time 
alleged. 

In reply the prosecutor stated that the prisoner had 
already been allowed time sufficient to produce evi- 
dence of his alleged status in Guadaloupe, and that, as 
to the inference drawn from the silence of Lloyd's lists, 
it was well known to the jury that these lists, though 
correct as to the port of London, were far from being 
so as to distant ports like Leith. He therefore de- 
manded a verdict of guilty ; and my surprise was inex- 
pressible when I found that twelve men had consigned 
a helpless stranger to an ignominious death, on the 
single unsupported and incredible testimony of an ob- 
scure seaman and common informer, of whom no one 
seemed to know anything, and who probably had been 
stimulated by the hope of blood money, then freely given 
for such disclosures. 

Animated by these feelings and fears, I instantly 
stepped to the side bar of the exchange rooms, and soon 
discovered incontestible evidence that poor Buche had 
been convicted, condemned, and I feared, hanged, on 
the testimony of a perjured man. The Leith shipping 
lists proved that no vessel of the name stated by the 
Crown witness had left Leith on the day in question, 
or during the whole of that month. I also found from 
the directory that there was no company of ship own- 
ers, or of any profession, of the firm sworn to in Leith 
or Edinburgh during the whole of the year in question. 
These facts I instantly communicated to Lord Bathurst, 
as minister for the colonies, with a view to the rescue 
of Buche; if, happily, his execution had not taken 
place, or, at all events, for the seizure and punishment 
of his perjured enemy. And great was my delight 
when, in the course of post, his lordship's chief secre- 
tarv wrote me thus : — 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 213 

" It will, I am persuaded, be satisfactory to you to be x 
informed that the Governor of Jamaica, in officially 
reporting the trial and conviction of these unfortunate 
persons, has stated the circumstances which induced 
him to grant a respite to Henrique Buche, in order that 
the necessary inquiries might be made to establish the 
truth of the particulars which he stated in his defence. 
I have therefore to acquaint you that your letter will be 
transmitted to the Governor" 

Buche was liberated, and leaving Jamaica, returned 
to his native island. The moral, the writer draws from 
the circumstance is, — " That each of us should be 
prompt to help the other, and all of us to help humanity 
at large." 

Dr. A. J. Gordon tells a touching incident, in which 
the effort to relieve the distress of a fellow being, was 
made instrumental in promoting the person's own hap- 
piness — The narrative is as follows : — 

My name is Anthony Hunt. I am a drover, and I 
]ive miles and miles away upon the western prairie. 
There wasn't a home within sight when we moved there, 
my wife and I ; and now we haven't many neighbors, 
though those we have are good ones. 

One day, about ten years ago, I went away from 
home to sell some fifty head of cattle — as fine creatures 
as I ever saw. I was to buy groceries and dry goods 
before I came back, and above all, a doll for our young- 
est Dolly; she had never had a store doll of her own, 
only the rag babies her mother had made for her. 
Dolly could talk of nothing else, and went clown to the 
very gate to call after me to " buy a big one." Nobody 
but a parent can understand how my mind was on that 
toy, and how, when the cattle were sold, the first thing 
I hurried off* to buy was Dolly's doll. I found a large 
one, with eyes that would open and shut when you 



214 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

pulled a wire, and had it wrapped up in paper and 
tucked it under my arm, while I had the parcels of 
calico and delaine and tea and sugar put up. 

It might have been more prudent to stay till morn- 
ing, but I felt anxious to get back, and eager to hear 
Dolly's prattle about her doll. I mounted a steady- 
going old horse of mine, and pretty well loaded. Xight 
set in before I was a mile from town, and settled down, 
dark as pitch, while I was in the wildest bit of road I 
know of. I could have felt my way through, I remem- 
bered it so well; although, when the storm that had 
been brewing broke out and pelted the rain in torrents,. 
I was almost five miles, or maybe six, from home. I 
rode on as fast as I could. 

But all of a sudden I heard a little cry, like a child's 
voice. I stopped short and listened. I heard it again. 
I called and it answered me. I couldn't see a thing- 
All was dark as pitch. I got down and felt about in 
the grass — called again, and again I was answered. 
Then I began to wonder. I'm not timid ; but I was 
known to be a drover, and to have money about me. 
It might be a trap to catch me unawares, and rob and 
murder me. I am not superstitious — not very; but 
how could a real child be out on the prairie in such a 
night, at such an hour ? It might be more than human. 
The bit of a coward that hides itself in most men 
showed itself to me then, and I was half inclined to run 
away. 

But once more I heard that cry; and said I, " If any 
man's child is hereabouts, Anthony Hunt is not the 
man to let it die." I searched again. At last I be- 
thought me of a hollow under the hill, and groped that 
way. Sure enough, I found a little dripping thing that 
moaned and sobbed as I took it in my arms. I called 
my horse, and the beast came to me; and I mounted, 
and tucked the little soaked thing under my coat, as 
well as I could, promising to take it home to mammy- 



I 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 215 

It seemed tired to death, and pretty soon cried itself to 
sleep against my bosom. 

It had slept there for over an hour when I saw my 
own windows. There were lights in them, and I sup- 
posed my wife had lit them for my sake ; but when I 
got into the door-yard, I saw something was the matter, 
and stood still with dread fear of heart five minutes 
before I could lift the latch. At last I did it and saw 
the room full of neighbors, and my wife amidst them 
weeping. When she saw me she hid her face. 

"O, don't tell him," she said; " it will kill him ! " 

"What is it, neighbors?" I cried. 

And one said, "Nothing, now, I hope; what's that 
in your arms?" 

"A poor lost child," says I, "I found it on the road. 
Take it, will you? I've turned faint;" and I lifted the 
sleeping thing, and saw the face of my own child, my 
little Dolly! 

It was my darling, and none other, that I had picked 
up on that drenched road. My little child had wan- 
dered out to meet " daddy" and doll, while her mother 
was at work ; and Dolly they were lamenting as one 
dead. I thanked heaven on my knees before them all. 

It is not much of a story ; but I think of it often in 
the night, and wonder how I could bear to live now, 
if I had not stopped when I heard the cry for help upon 
the road — the little baby cry, hardly louder than a 
squirrel's chirp. 

It is much of a story. It is a story in which the 
great moral of the world's redemption lies wrapped up. 
It is a story which translates for us the deepest mean- 
ing of the cross. In exposing his life to danger this 
man restored the life that was dearest to him. " He 
that loseth his life shall find it." 



216 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CONVERSION. 

Stephen Grellet — Ann Branson — Joseph Pike— Wm. Dewsbury — 

Thomas Wilson — John Churchman — Maria Hall — Elizabeth 

Wing — John S. Stokes — Job Scott — Holy Spirit among the 

Kaffirs — Edward Wright — "Ye are not your own" — The 

y Dutch, painter — Effect of a tract — Effect of a judicious conversa- 

\ tion — Peter Yarnall— Frederick C. Browne — The robber's auc- 
tion — The Georgia farmer — Women crusaders — " Behold the 
Lamb of God"— Samuel Cope on the steamboat — Gilmore Mars- 
ton — Jane Dunning — "The wicked flee when no man pursueth" 
No. 68 — Convinced by an old blind woman — The file grinder — 
John Browning — Jacob Ritter — A deist converted — Revival at 
Great Falls — Samuel Fay — " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth 
from all sin" — The Florida pirate — Mitchell K's prayer — The 
"dumb sermon" — "Say your prayers in fair weather" — David 
Sands. 

The preceding pages contain many instances of the 
preserving power of God, and of his safe guidance in 
the midst of trial and danger; but the best proof of the 
♦ greatness of Divine love and mercy is to be found in 
those operations of his grace by which the sinner is 
turned from evil, and enabled to walk in the highway 
of holiness which leads to eternal blessedness. Not 
only is the Lord willing to pardon the repentant sinner, 
but, as Isaac Penington expresses, " He gives broken- 
ly ess, He melteth the heart that He may be tender to- 
wards, and embrace it in his arms of reconciliation, and 
in the peace of his Spirit." 

The account which Stephen Grellet gives of his own 
convincement of the truths of the Gospel, and of his 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 217 

conversion, is an interesting illustration of the great 
truth, that the change from darkness to light is eifectecl 
through the power of Divine grace. 

He was a refugee from France, driven out by the con- N 
vulsions attending the French Revolution, and, at the 
time this great change occurred, was residing on Long 
Island, a young man of twenty-two years of age, living 
a moral and respectable life, but one who, like many 
others of the educated class among the French people, 
had rejected religion as a system of priestcraft, and was 
a professed unbeliever. He thus describes what he 
terms a visitation of the Lord, " by the immediate 
openings of the Divine light on my soul :" 

One evening, as I was walking in the fields, alone, 
my mind being under no kind of religious concern nor 
in the least excited by anything I had heard or thought 
of, I was suddenly arrested by what seemed to be an 
awful voice proclaiming the words, " Eternity ! Eter- 
nity ! Eternity !" It reached my very soul, my whole 
man shook, it brought me, like Saul, to the ground. 
The great depravity and sinfulness of my heart were 
set open before me, and the gulf of everlasting destruc- 
tion to which I was verging. I was made bitterly to 
cry out, " If there is no God— doubtless there is a hell." 
,1 found myself as in the midst of it. For a long time 
it seemed as if the thundering proclamation was yet 
heard. After that I remained almost whole days and 
nights, exercised in prayer that the Lord would have 
mercy upon me, expecting that He would give me some 
evidence that He heard my supplication. But for this 
I was looking to some outward manifestation, my ex- 
pectation being entirely of that nature. 

I now took up again the works of William Penn, and 
opened upon " No Cross, No Crown." The title alone 



218 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

reached to my heart. I proceeded to read it, with the 
help of my dictionary, having to look for the meaning 
of nearly every word. I read it twice through in this 
manner. I had never met with anything of the kind, 
neither had I felt the Divine witness in me operating 
so powerfully before. 

I now withdrew from company, and spent most of 
my time in retirement and in silent waiting upon God. 
I began to read the Bible, with the aid of my diction- 
ary, for I had none then in French. I was much of a 
stranger to the inspired records. I had not even seen 
them before that I remember. What I had heard of 
any part of their contents was only detached portions 
in prayer books. 

Whilst the fallow ground of my heart was thus pre- 
paring, my brother and myself, being one day at Col. 
Corsa's, we heard that a meeting for Divine worship 
was appointed to be held next day in the Friends' 
meeting-house, by two English women on a religious 
visit to this land, to which we were invited. We felt 
inclined to go. The Friends were Deborah Darby and 
Rebecca Young. The sight of them brought solemn 
feelings over me. But I soon forgot the servants and 
all things around me, for, in an inward, silent frame 
of mind, seeking for the Divine presence, I was favored 
to find in me, what I had so long, and with so many 
tears, sought for without me. My brother, who sat be- 
side me, and to whom the silence, in which the fore- 
part of the meeting was held, was irksome, repeatedly 
whispered to me, " Let us go away." But I felt the 
Lord's power in such a manner that my inner man was 
prostrated before my blessed Redeemer. A secret joy 
filled me, in that I had found Him after whom my soul 
had longed. I was as one nailed to my seat. Shortly 
after, one or two men Friends in the ministry spoke, 
but I could understand very little of what they said. 
After them Deborah Darby and Rebecca Young spoke 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. £10 

also, but I was so gathered in the temple of my heart 
before God, that I was wholly absorbed with what was 
passing there. Thus had the Lord opened my heart to 
seek Him where He is to be found. 

My brother and myself were invited to dine in the 
company of these friends at Colonel Corsa's. There 
was a religious opportunity after dinner, in which seve- 
ral communications were made. I could hardly under- 
stand a word of what was said, but, as Deborah Darby 
began to address my brother and myself, it seemed as 
if the Lord opened my outward ear and my heart. Her 
words partook of the efficacy of that " Word" which 
is " quick and powerful, and sharper than any two- 
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of 
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a 
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." She 
seemed like one reading the pages of my heart, with 
clearness describing how it had been, and how it was 
with me. I was like Lydia, my heart was opened. I 
felt the power of Him who hath the key of David. 'No 
strength to withstand the Divine visitation was left in . 
me. what sweetness did I then feel ! It was indeed 
a memorable day. I was like one introduced into a new 
world. The creation and all things around me bore a 
different aspect — my heart glowed with love to all. The 
awfulness of that day of God's visitation can never 
cease to be remembered with peculiar interest and 
gratitude, as long as I have the use of my mental fac- 
ulties. I have been as one plucked from the burning — 
rescued from the brink of an horrible pit. O how can" 
the extent of the Lord's love, mercy, pity and tender/ 
compassion be fathomed ? 

This lively narrative, while it gives the glory of his 
conversion to the immediate workings of the grace of 
God, which bringeth salvation, shows also how an 
anointed ministry, proceeding from the working of the 



220 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

same Divine power in the heart of another, co-operated 
therewith, and tended to confirm and deepen the im- 
pression previously made. This is the effect of true 
ministry, flowing from the Source of all good. It 
brings to remembrance the language of John Richard- 
son, himself a faithful laborer in the cause of Christ: 

How comfortable, how easy and pleasant are even all 
the books and testimonies and exhortations that are 
given forth in the Spirit, love and light of Christ! 
Yea, the very company and conversation of such who 
are preserved in the life, become a sweet savor of Divine 
life to the living. There is comfort and consolation, a 
strengthening and building up one of another in the 
most holy and precious faith, so that I find the truly 
quickened soul taketh great delight to resort to, and as 
much as may be, converse with the awakened and truly 
quickened souls who take up the cross of Christ daily. 

Although Stephen Grellet so feelingly acknowledged 
the benefit he received from the lively ministry of 
Deborah Darby, yet he was preserved from placing his 
dependence on anything short of the Divine power. 
He says : " In religious meetings, as well as out of 
them, my single concern was to feel after the influences 
of the Holy Spirit in my own heart." The meetings 
he attended were mostly held in silence, and for some 
time he had no communication with those who as- 
sembled there. He afterwards regarded it as a favor, 
that his lot had been cast in a place where he had no 
outward dependence to lean upon. It was in a silent 
meeting that he was favored with a further manifesta- 
tion of the way of redemption, and his prayers for his 
brother were answered by the extension to him of a 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 221 

visitation of Heavenly love. Of this season of Divine 
favor he says : 

My dear brother, seeing how my face was turned, 
began to unite with some of the people about me in re- 
proaching the way in which the Lord led me, which 
added much to my grief. He could not bear to hear 
me tell of the Lord's work, as it was upon me. In my 
absence, however, I found, after a while, that he read 
in William Penn's works. This encouraged me to 
hope that a seeking disposition was awakened in him, 
though he tried to shake it off. One First-day morn- 
ing, when my prayer had been renewedly put up in 
secret for him, he called me back, after I had set out 
to go to meeting, saying he would go with me. How 
thankful did I feel ! Very few words passed between 
us on the wa}<. The earnest petition of my heart was 
unto the Lord, that the power of his love and presence 
might be so displayed as to convince my dear brother, 
and bring him to bow to his righteous sceptre. My 
prayer was heard. It was a memorable meeting — held 
in silence, however, as usual — never to be forgotten. 
Yery soon after sitting down, great was the awfulness 
and the reverence that came upon me. It was suc- 
ceeded by such a view and sense of my sinful life, that 
I was like one crushd under the millstones. My mis- 
ery was great. My cry was not unlike that of Isaiah, 
" Woe is me, for I am undone !" The nearer I was then 
favored to approach to Him " who dwelleth in the 
light," the more I saw my uncleanness and my wretch- 
edness. But how can I set forth the fullness of heav- 
enly joy that filled me when the hope was again raised 
that there was One, even He whom I had pierced, Je- 
sus Christ the Redeemer, that was able to save me ! 
I saw Him to be the Lamb of God that taketh away 
the sins of the world, who was delivered for our of- 
fenses, and raised again for our justification, who is 



099 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 



our propitiatory sacrifice, our advocate with the Father, 
our intercessor with Gocl. I felt faith in his atoning 
blood quickening my soul, giving me to believe that it 
was He who could wash me from my many pollutions, 
and deliver me from death and destruction, which I 
felt to be my just desert for my many sins and trans- 
gressions. On my earnest petition being put up to Him 
the language was proclaimed, " Thy sins are forgiven, 
thy iniquities are pardoned." Floods of tears of joy 
and gratitude gave vent to the fullness of my heart. 

Then I thought I heard again a sweet language say- 
ing, " Proclaim unto others what the Lord has done for 
thy soul." Apprehending that this was a requisition 
of present duty, I began to plead excuses from the con- 
sciousness of my inability to perform the service. " Thou 
knowest, Lord, that I cannot speak English so as to 
be understood," was my answer," " and what am I, 
that I should proclaim thy name ?" 

There was not the least feeling then in me to flinch 
from doing, or becoming, whatever the Lord would 
require of me, but a sense of my inability and unworthi- 
ness. I have since seen that this was more to prepare 
me for a future day than a command for a present offer- 
ing. My spirit continued so prostrated before the Lord, 
and encircled with his love and presence, that I was in- 
sensible to what passed around me. The meeting con- 
cluded and the people retired without my noticing it, till 
my brother, speaking to me, drew my attention, and I 
saw that we two only were left in the house. 

My gratitude- was great when I found that my brother 
had partaken of the heavenly visitation. From that 
time he attended diligently, and was a great comfort 
to me. 

The experience of every thoughtful and seriously- 
minded person furnishes illustrations of the truth of 
the Scripture assertion, that the Lord hath showed 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMAEKS. 223 

unto man what is " good " — that He impresses on the 
mind a sense of right and wrong, and of the duty of 
following the one and avoiding the other. This is 
indeed the law of the spirit of life, and it reaches to all; 
so that all are left without excuse who disobey and 
reject it. " Light is come into the world," and the 
ground of condemnation is that many reject the Light, 
because they are unwilling to renounce their evil deeds, 
and to submit to the government of Christ. However 
varied are the forms in which the Divine Guidance is 
manifested to man ; and however different the duties 
required of the servants of Christ ; yet they are sub- 
stantially the results of the same foundation principle — 
a reverent attention to the manifestations of the Spirit, 
.and obedience to that which is shown to each one to be 
his individual duty. 

When Stephen Grellet was a young man, and had 
been Divinely visited, and rescued from the infidel prin- 
ciples he had imbibed, and had begun to attend a meet- 
ing of the Society of Friends at Newtown on Long 
Island, near which he was living, some of those about 
him observing that he was disposed to embrace the 
views of those people, began to reproach him. Not- 
withstanding the natural intrepidity of his character, 
he hesitated, and did not go to the meeting which he 
felt that he ought to do. Strong convictions for the 
sin of disobedience were the consequence. The Holy 
Spirit again set before his view the thraldom and mis- 
ery of his past life, and he wept bitterly. When the 
next meeting-day came, he concluded to go; but he 
went " through fields and over fences, ashamed to be 



224 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

seen by any one on the road." It so happened that 
the meeting on that day was held at another place, and 
so the house was closed. He sat down " in a retired 
place, and in a very tried state." Like Mcodemus, he 
had attempted to come by stealth, and he felt that he 
had been k ' ashamed publicly to confess Christ before 
men." It was a time of great humiliation and search- 
ing of heart, and it proved a means of confirming him 
in a more open and decided course for the future. 

Having become convinced of the propriety of using 
the plain language of thou and thee to individuals, 
he says : — 

I took up my cross in that also, though it exposed 
me to much ridicule. Being about to write to my 
parents, the cross became great, chiefly because this 
way of speaking was then adopted by the Revolutionist 
party in France, from whom my parents, with most of 
the nobility, were suffering so much. But I was under 
the necessity with plainness and simplicity to make use 
of the language I saw to be my duty, leaving every 
consequence to the Lord. Thus, becoming resigned, 
I felt sweet peace, and this exercise tended not a little 
to strengthen me to bear the various railings and frowns 
of the world that I had to encounter. Some who before 
had courted my company, now turned away . and this 
became a blessing to me, for it tended to make the 
separation greater between me and the world. One 
circumstance occurred that I may not omit, as it shows 
that, when we are endeavoring to follow the ways of 
the Lord, He may turn our anticipated difficulties into 
encouragements. I had occasion to go to Xew York 
to see one of our first merchants on business. I was 
afraid lest, presenting myself before him in such a dif- 
ferent manner, he might make some mortifying re- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 225 

marks ; for it was a strange thing to see a Frenchman 
becoming a Quaker. I felt my mind very low, and 
exercised before the Lord, when I came to him. He, 
seeing my embarrassment, said to me, in a very mild 
and respectful manner : " Sir, I perceive you are em- 
bracing the principles of the Society of Friends ; it is 
one of the most respectable societies I know." This 
was an unexpected encouragement. 

Stephen Grellet's experience as to outward business, 
shows the safety there is in trusting the Lord in such 
things, and following the Divine Guidance therein. 
He says, in reference to this subject, that after removing 
to Philadelphia in 1795 : 

I had several offers to engage in commercial con- 
cerns, both in Philadelphia, and from my European 
friends, particularly in Holland, from whom I received 
proposals, by letters, to place me in an extensive way 
of business with the West Indies and Holland. But, 
keeping my eye single to the Lord, whose direction 
I sought, I could not be easy to accept any offer of this 
kind ; for I saw that if I did, the sense of life in me, 
that was very tender, might easily be destroyed. I 
therefore preferred, for a while, the occupation of 
teaching the French language. I engaged in it, it is 
true, much in the cross ; but, having repeated evidence 
that it was a right engagement for me, it became easy 
to submit to it. I was at first concerned lest it should 
not be sufficient to procure me a living. For, from the 
complexion of things in France, I could not entertain 
any expectation that I should receive pecuniary means 
from that quarter. After many anxious thoughts on 
this head, one day, as my mind was gathered in rever- 
ent silence before the Lord, the language was strongly 
impressed: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness, and all things needful shall be added." 
15 



226 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKg. 

The evidence that it was the direction of Omnipotence, 
whose promise is sure, was so clear, that no doubt 
remained; and for months after that, I was so relieved 
from temporal anxiety, that I had no more thought 
about it than if I had not lived in the world. I was 
closely engaged in my school, and though I scrupu- 
lously paid every requisite attention to it, yet, during 
the intervals, my mind was wholly relieved from 
anxious thoughts about it. The one thing needful 
only absorbed me, whilst walking in the streets, or 
sitting in the house. 

The promise thus given to Stephen Grellet of out- 
ward support was verified by life-long experience. 
Much of his time was spent in peculiarly arduous, and 
often expensive journeys of a religious nature, in this 
country, and on the Continent of Europe; which neces- 
sarily took him from business, and made heavy drains 
upon his resources, as he paid his own travelling ex- 
penses; yet such was the blessing that rested on his 
labors to provide things honest in the sight of all men, 
that he knew no lack of the requisite means. 

In his conscientious care to walk in obedience to 
what was required of him, he found himself led for a 
time in a peculiar path. "What he passed through led 
him to caution those in a similar situation to be care- 
ful not to judge their brethren who were not similarly 
restrained. 

Making a distinction, he says, between that which is 
essentially and permanently obligator}', and those straits 
and exercises that belong only to yourselves, in order 
to keep you under close discipline, and in which obedi- 
ence will be equally requisite, when the Divine com- 
mand may go forth to you, to cease from those things, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 227 

as now, when you think you are called to practice 
them. And you who are not led into straits, like 
your brethren, be tender of their scruples, — feel for 
them — and encourage them, even to faithfulness; for 
nothing, ever so small, which is of the Lord's re- 
quiring, is to be slighted; and it is in proportion as we 
are faithful in little things, that we are made rulers 
-over more. 

One of the difficulties under which I was brought 
related to my eating and drinking. I felt myself pro- 
hibited from partaking of animal food, and also of 
everything that was the produce of slavery, for the 
sense of the sufferings of that people was heavy upon 
me. After I had been thus led for about two years, 
I began to be afraid lest I should continue in that 
manner of living from former apprehensions, and not 
from the continued requirings of the Lord, and thus, 
by being singular among my friends, improperly draw 
their attention to me. In much fear I ventured one 
day to partake of animal food again, but great distress 
came upon me, attended with a renewed evidence that 
my outward man, as well as my inner one, must be 
kept in much lowness. . I felt also an assurance, that 
when the days of my release from this fast should come, 
I should have the same undoubted assurance of it, as. 
I had then of being led into it. 

I continued about five years under that exercise, 
and when my release came, the free use of every- 
thing in the creation was set before me, so that 
I received it with thankfulness and moderation. 
Great was the fulness of the Lord's love, at that 
time, and the sweetness of his presence. It seemed 
as if heaven was opened, and the angelic host was 
about me, proclaiming the Lord's praise and glory, 
to which I was permitted to join my feeble accents. 

The grace of God, which is designed to lead his chil- 



228 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

dren safely along in the highway of holiness to the 
celestial mansions of endless peace and joy, often visits 
children while still young in years, and reproves them 
for wrong-doing. Ann Branson records : 

I was naturally of a volatile disposition, and took 
great delight in childish play, though I can remember 
having very serious thoughts and impressions when 
quite young. On one occasion, having told an untruth 
when a child, it gave me great uneasiness, so that I 
could not sleep when I went to bed, but prayed that I 
might be forgiven ; and I remember going into the or- 
chard alone and praying to my heavenly Father to keep 
me from evil and make me a better child. I am satis- 
fied that the minds of children are often seriously im- 
pressed with good desires and feelings when quite 
young. 

At one time, having committed a mischievous act 
which I knew would occasion my father to inquire of 
his children who was the author of the mischief, I had 
great reasonings in my mind whether to own or deny 
the act, but finally resolved to speak the truth, though 
it might subject me to the discipline of the rod. So, 
when my father called upon us to know who had com- 
mitted the depredation, I unhesitatingly answered that 
I did it, and I felt great joy that I had been preserved 
from equivocation, or wilfully departing from the truth, 
through the fear of punishment ; and it was a strength 
and encouragement to me afterwards to adhere to the 
truth. 

In the account left of his experiences by that worthy 
elder, Joseph Pike, of Cork, Ireland, he says : 

Before I was seven years old the Spirit of the Lord 
began to work in my mind, and strove with me, to 
bring me off from my childish playfulness and vani- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 229 

ties. His holy light in my soul, as I soon after found 
it to be, convinced me that I ought not to give way to, 
nor do this or the other thing which presented ; and 
when at any time I did what I should not have done, 
it brought upon me trouble and condemnation, even in 
those early days, as it hath always since, when I did any- 
thing that offended the Lord. Though I did not pres- 
ently know that it was the Lord's Spirit which I felt 
working in me, as Samuel knew not the Lord's voice 
when a child, yet being convinced in myself by its holy 
convictions, that I ought not to do those things which 
brought trouble upon me, and also, that when at any 
time I refrained from doing what caused this trouble, 
I had sweet peace and satisfaction of mind, it made me 
the more to attend to its dictates. 

William Dewsbury was an eminent minister in the 
early days of the Society of Friends. He says that 
before he was eight years old the light in his conscience 
witnessed against wrong things. "About this time I 
was eight years of age, the word of the Lord came to 
me — 'I created thee for my glory; an account thou 
must give me for all thy words and actions done in the 
body.' " 

Thomas Wilson, who also was a powerful minister 
of the Gospel, relates in an account he left of his life 
and travels : " While I was a youth, I had great hun- 
gerings and thirstings in my heart after righteousness 
and the true knowledge of the living God, and of his 
Son, Jesus Christ. After long travail of spirit and 
great concern of soul, the Lord was graciously pleased 
to make me sensible, that what was to be known of 
God was manifested in men ; about which time I went 
into an evening meeting of the people called Quakers, 
with strong desires in my mind to the Lord, that if it 
was the true way of salvation which they preached I 



230 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

might have some inward feeling and testimony thereof, 
by the blessed word in my own heart. After sitting 
some time in silence, a Friend began to speak, direct- 
ing and exhorting to an inward waiting upon the Lord 
in faith, to receive power from Him over every unclean 
thought. The Lord's power arose in the meeting and 
fell mightily upon me, to the breaking and tendering 
of my heart, and a glorious time it was, as the mighty 
day of the Lord. I was full of inward cries, to this 
effect : Lord, create in me a clean heart !" 

John Churchman says in his Journal : " Though I 
early felt reproof for bad words and actions, yet knew 
not whence it came, until about the age of eight years, 
as I sat in a small meeting, the Lord, by the Teachings 
of his heavenly love and goodness, so overcame and 
tendered my heart, and by his glorious light discovered 
to me the knowledge of himself, that I saw myself, and 
what I had been doing, and what it was that reproved 
me for evil ; and I was made in the secret of my heart 
to confess that childhood and youth, and the foolish 
actions and words to which they are propense, are truly 
vanity. Yet, blessed forever be the name of the Lord, 
who, in his infinite mercy and goodness, clearly informed 
me, that if I would mind the discoveries of his Truth 
and pure light for the future, what I had done in the 
time of my ignorance He would forgive. And oh ! the 
stream of love which filled my heart with solid joy at 
that time, and lasted for many days, is beyond all ex- 
pression." 

Maria Hall, of Belmont County, Ohio, who died in 
the year 1862, at the age of nine years and four months, 
said in her last sickness, " My Heavenly Father has 
prepared me for the change more than any of you know 
of." And at another time remarked, " 1 am going to 
Heaven, I am going to Heaven, to the blessed mansions 
where I shall rest forever in the bosom of my Saviour." 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 231 

She had long given evidence that her thoughts were 
much turned to serious things, although a lively, ani- 
mated child. 

Very touching is the account given of a little child, 
who was lying on its couch apparently slightly unwell, 
and uttered a few words, substantially as follows : " I 
love father, I love mother, I love everybody in the whole 
world," and shortly after ceased to breathe. Who can 
doubt that its infant heart was pervaded with a meas- 
ure of that Divine love which would gather all within 
the holy enclosure: 

The diary of Elizabeth Wing says : " In early life the 
Lord visited me with a tender impression of his love, so 
as often to melt my heart, but particularly when my par- 
ents gathered their children together for retirement, a 
practice my dear father was much in the habit of. Oh ! 
surely I cannot forget some of these seasons, when my 
dear parent would feel concerned to pray for his chil- 
dren. My heart would be greatly affected, but as yet 
I knew not that it was the hand of the Lord that was 
at work in my heart. 

Our late valued friend, John S. Stokes, an acceptable 
minister in the Society of Friends, in some memoranda 
left behind him, says, " I think I was not more than 
four or five years of age, when I was first made sen- 
sible of Divine impressions in meetings. My spirit 
was often tendered, and desires raised in my heart that 
I might walk in the love and fear of the Lord ; and, if 
I lived, I might be a good man." 

That eminent minister of the Gospel, Job Scott, re- 
marks in his Journal, "Almost as early as I can remem- 
ber anything, I can well remember the Lord's secret 
workings in my heart, by his grace or holy Spirit ; very 
sensibly bringing me under condemnation for my evil 
thoughts and actions, as rudeness and bad words (though 



232 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

not frequent in the use of them), disobedience to par- 
ents; inwardly wishing, in moments of auger, some 
evil to such as offended me; and such like childish and 
corrupt dispositions and practices, which over and be- 
yond all outward instruction I was made sensible were 
evil, and sprang from a real root of evil in me. And 
I am in a lull belief, that in every quarter of the globe, 
children, at an early age, have good and evil set before 
them, in the shillings of the light of Christ in their 
hearts, with clearness and evidence sufficient to ascer- 
tain to them their duty, if they honestly attend to it. I 
am satisfied if the teachings of men were never to 
thwart the teachings of the holy Spirit, many things 
would fix on the minds of children to be evils which 
they are now instructed and persuaded are innocent 
and commendable." 

James Backhouse records in his Travels in South 
Africa, a conversation with an intelligent missionary 
at Caffraria, who fully admitted that the conviction of 
right and wrong was known by the Kaffirs ; but he 
attributed it to "their thoughts accusing or else ex- 
cusing one another," by a merely natural process. He 
observed, however, that if this were the case, the thing 
was the work of God, and therefore the glory belonged 
to Him, and that the difference between his views on 
the subject and those of James Backhouse and his 
companion, merely related to the question, whether 
these convictions were, or were not, the immediate 
work of the Holy Spirit. James says : — 

We were prepared to admit that there might be a 
misinformation of the conscience, by which it might be 
troubled and misled, but this did not alter our convic- 
tion, that the condemnation felt by unconverted persons 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 233 

respecting things essentially evil, in which it would be 
natural for them to take pleasure, could not reasonably 
be attributed to themselves, but was referable to a 
Divine light, which was essentially good, shining into 
their darkness ; and which, though not comprehended, 
nevertheless made manifest the things that were re- 
provable. My companion could appeal to his own 
experience, in being first led to the reception of Chris- 
tian doctrine, by attention to such convictions ; under 
the persuasion, that that which bore witness against 
him, could not be of himself; and that these convic- 
tions bore the character of what was described in the 
Scriptures as the work of the Holy Spirit. I had been 
taught from infancy to regard these convictions as the 
teaching of my Heavenly Father by his Spirit; and in 
attending to them I had been given to feel the love of 
Christ, and gradually to understand the way of salva- 
tion. We could, also, both testify abundantly to the 
Divine condescension, in regard to the measure in 
which we had been favored with the guidance and 
teaching of the Holy Spirit in the progress of the work 
of grace; and to the constraint of spirit which we often 
felt, to testify to others of the grace of God, given 
through Jesus Christ, and drawing to Him, as the sac- 
rifice for sin and the Saviour of those who repent and 
believe in Him. 

On another occasion during his South African travels, 
James Backhouse met with a proof that the Holy Spirit 
acts on the heart independently of any outward teach- 
ing. He says : — 

After a scanty meal of coffee and bread, we rode 
briskly about twenty miles, over sandy ground, on 
which the fresh traces of the Gemsbock's feet were 
numerous, to Oeg Grawep, or Footjes Kraal, where 
there was a hole of good water, near a solitary mat hut, 



234 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

occupied by Jonas Engelbrecht, an aged man of Hot- 
tentot descent, and his family, who had charge of some 
cattle belonging to J. EL Schonelen. Here we rested, 
the heat being intense ; read to the people, and spoke 
to them on the way of salvation. At the conclusion, 
J. Engelbrecht said, he could acknowledge that what 
had been said was the truth ; for that before any mis- 
sionary came into this part of the country, he was 
much troubled in mind, under a feeling that all was 
not right with him, though he could hardly say in 
what : as he kept under these feelings, he was made 
watchful and became more peaceful; but when he 
heard that a missionary was come into the neighbor- 
hood, he went to hear him, and then he learned more 
clearly the way of salvation. 

It is the Grace of God that bringeth salvation, and 
to this Divine power and the mercy of God we must 
attribute the good effects of the various dispensations 
by which sinners are turned from the evil of their ways. 
The Christian rejoices in these evidences of Divine love 
and is never wearied of tracing the hand of Providence 
in the varied experiences which accompany the trans- 
formation of apostate man. 

Among the persons mentioned in the life of Edward 
Wright, of London, is one whose history illustrates the 
power of Divine Grace in effecting the marvellous 
change "from darkness to light," and from living 
under the dominion of Satan to being a humble follower 
of the Lord Jesus. 

E P was the son of respectable parents, his 

mother having had £15,000 left her on her parent's 
death. Her first husband was a dissolute character, 
and spent her money. The second husband, the father 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 235 

of E , was a surgeon in a hospital, but died when 

his son was but seven years old. 

He learned the trade of a shoemaker, and when he 
attained the age of manhood earned good wages, but 
spent it at the concert-room, theatre, and other places 
of amusement. Being a good singer, his company was 
much sought after by the frequenters of music halls 
and public-houses. At such places he would spend his 
evenings, and waste his money in drink and in treating 
his flatterers. 

His marriage did not prove a means of reformation, 
for as his wife was fond of amusements too, he still 
continued in his wild career. Business was neglected, 
his trade fell off, and he was reduced in his circum- 
stances. Pursuing a downward course, he purchased 
stolen goods ; cards, gambling and other vices fol- 
lowed; and he began to be known in the neighborhood 
where he lived as a confirmed drunkard and notorious 
blackguard. The deeper he descended into sin, the 
stronger became his hatred of religion, and the more 
he scoffed at holy things. Even in this condition, he 
seemed scarcely conscious that he was a sinner; his 
feeling being that he had not done harm to any one 
but himself. 

One day, he was seized with typhus fever, and as he 
was recovering from it, a relapse brought him ap- 
parently to the brink of the grave. How far the Lord 
may have used this humbling dispensation to soften his 
heart, and to teach him his need of Divine help, cannot 
be told, but after his recovery he was induced to attend 
a meeting, at which he was convinced of his sinfulness, 



236 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

and that he needed mercy and forgiveness. So great 
was the change wrought in him, that he became an 
open advocate of the religion he had once despised, 
and earnest in endeavoring to persuade others to come 
to the Saviour. 

Another interesting case mentioned in the same 
book, is that of a man who, at the early age of fifteen, 
became connected with a gang of burglars at Plymouth, 
England ; and having been detected in a robbery, was 
sentenced to four months' imprisonment, fourteen days 
of which were to be spent in solitary confinement; and 
he was ordered to be flogged twice. Having found in 
his cell a copy of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, he read 
it with eagerness to pass the time; and reflecting on 
his wretched condition, he wept and mourned over his 
sins, and promised that he would reform when he left 
the prison. 

When his term of imprisonment was ended, he re- 
solved to go home to his friends; but visiting some of 
his old companions, w T as soon drawn into sinful courses 
again. For many years he led an unsettled life, fol- 
lowing many occupations. His love of drink made 
him a beggar and his wife was compelled to go into 
service. 

It pleased God at last to bring him to his senses; 
and when he felt how greatly he had sinned against 
the Lord, his mind was filled with remorse. While 
under these convictions, he attended a religious meet- 
ing, where, he says : — 

That faithful monitor, conscience, told me that I had 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 237 

been a wicked and most unprofitable servant. The 
battle then waged fearfully in my breast; I was deter- 
mined to quiet conscience, if possible, and conquer this 
seeming weakness that possessed me. I had not been 
here long, however, before the cry was raised of "Fire," 
and I hastened with the giddy multitude outside to the 
scene. The thought of lire in my wretched condition 
of mind was very painful. I have been in prison 
awaiting my trial; and when in my solitary cell it has 
been sad for me to think that perhaps I might soon be 
banished from my friends, my home, and my country: 
but still this feeling was nothing to that which filled 
my soul when God appeared to say to me, " The wicked 
shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget 
God." These were some of my thoughts on that 
memorable evening. I went sorrowfully home that 
night and wept and prayed. 

That merciful God who never said to the wrestling 
seed of Jacob "seek ye my face in vain," and whose 
ears are open to the cry of the penitent sinner, was 
pleased to give him a sense of forgiveness, so that he 
could say, "I am now rejoicing in a loving Saviour, 
who has graciously plucked me as a brand from the 
burning. It is free grace and never-dying love that 
has made me happy; for I am saved through the 
atoning blood of Jesus. Oh ! to think and know that 
God condescends to save a poor wretch like me? " 

When the news of the change which had taken 
place in this man was told to his brother, he exclaimed, 
"Yes, prayers have been piled up, pile upon pile, for 
him, and God has answered them all at once." 
When his mother heard of it, she burst into tears, 



238 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

and cried with joy, "At last, at last, the prodigal has 
returned." 

The assertion of this "brand plucked from the burn- 
ing," that he " was saved" while true in the sense that 
his feet had been turned from the broad way that 
leadeth to destruction, into the narrow way that 
leadeth to everlasting life, would not be true, if by 
it was meant that his eternal salvation was secured. 
For, although he could rejoice in the feeling that his 
sins had been forgiven, and that the mercy and good- 
ness of a loving Saviour were extended to him; yet 
every experienced Christian knows that it is easy to 
lose a good condition, if humility and watchfulness are 
not kept; and that it is essentially necessary to observe 
our Saviour's command, " Watch and pray, lest ye enter 
into temptation." 

How true are the words of Isaac Penington ! " When 
the pure springs of life open in the heart, immediately 
the enemy watcheth his opportunity to get entrance : 
and many times finds entrance soon after — the soul 
little fearing or suspecting him, having lately felt such 
mighty, unconquerable strength; and yet, how often 
doth he then get in, and smite the life down to the 
ground! and, what may he not do with the creature, 
unless the Lord graciously help ! " 

Another of the cases described in the life of Edward 
Wright, is that of an aged shoemaker in London, who 
was an habitual drunkard, very profane, and one who 
scoffed at all religion. His wife became a Christian, 
at which he was greatly incensed, forbade her to read 
the Bible, and opposed her going to religious meetings. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 239 

Sometimes, when enraged by drink, he would watch 
outside the place of meeting, and as she came out would 
swear at and otherwise ill-treat her. 

One evening, when he was away drinking, she went 
to the meeting, where Edward Wright was in the habit 
of addressing the people. Towards the close of the 
service, she heard her husband's voice outside. He had 
so frequently threatened " to knock Jesus out of her," 
and to murder her, if she went again to the hall, that 
she feared he would really attempt to carry out his 
threat. To prevent a disturbance she went to E. Wright, 
and begged him to prevent her husband from entering. 
Before he could reach the door, the drunken fellow 
staggered in, calling out vociferously for his wife. 

Finding that he would not quit the building without 
her, she hastened out of doors, her tormentor assailing 
her with curses. Edward cried after him, as he went 
along the passage, " Be sure your sins will find you 
out ! Be sure your sins will find you out ! ! ! " 

Hurrying home, the agitated woman left her drunken 
husband to stagger along as he could ; and having 
reached the house, she carefully hid every dangerous 
thing that he might turn into a weapon of attack, and 
knelt down in prayer that her Heavenly Father might 
grant her protection. To her astonishment, when her 
husband arrived, he did not offer to assail her, but sat 
down on a chair, and muttered, "Find me out! Be 
sure your sins will find you out ! What does he mean, 
eh ? — find you out !" 

Throughout the evening he was in a semi-delirious 
state, every now and then repeating the words which 



240 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

had been addressed to him. The next morning he was 
quieter: and when he sat down to work he seemed lost 
in thought, and during the whole of the forenoon did 
not say a word, save when he whispered, as if to him- 
self, the words which had so seriously impressed him. 

Meanwhile his wife was silently crying to the Lord, 
that He would have mercy upon her husband; and 
whenever she heard him repeat the passage, " Be sure 
your sins will find you out," she begged that it might 
even be so, that he might see their enormity, and be 
rescued from the consequences of continuing in them. 
Towards evening he became sociable, and said to his 
w T ife, "Are you going to the hall to-night ?" "I should 
like to go,"' she meekly replied, " if you would allow 
me." To this he at once consented, and expressed his 
determination to accompany her, and ask the preacher 
what he meant by crying after him, " Be sure your sins 
will find you out!" 

At this meeting the good impression already made 
upon his mind was deepened, and confirmed, and his 
heart was affected with a sense of the mercy of a long- 
suffering and gracious Father, who sent his beloved 
Son into the world to save sinners. He laid aside the 
use of strong drink, which had been one of his easily- 
besetting sins; and his whole manner of life was 
changed. 

In this instance, the stirring words of the preacher, 
" Be sure your sins will find you out !" were an instru- 
ment used by Divine Grace to bring the sinner to re- 
pentance. In the anecdote which follows, the blessing 
of the Lord appears to have rested on the perseverance 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 241 

of a Christian wife. The occurrence took place many 
winters ago in Connecticut, at a place where a few 
zealous Methodists held their meetings in a dwelling- 
house. 

On a First-day morning, a woman in the neighbor- 
hood asked her husband, who narrates the story, If I 
would be kind enough to take her across the pond in 
the boat (a large tide-water mill-pond was between our 
house and the church, the distance being nearly two 
miles farther around than across it), " for," said she, " I 
purpose to go to the Methodist Meeting to-day. You 
know it is a long walk, the nearest way to go ; the road 
is bad, and it looks very much like rain. I wish to go 
early, that I may have time to pick my way, and get 
there before it begins to storm." Thus she stated all 
the most weighty objections herself, and answered them 
at the same time, with a determined countenance. 
However, I objected to her request, notwithstanding. 
" Well, then," she replied, " I must go around the 
pond," and started. " Here," said, I " if you will go, 
come — get into the boat." She returned, took her seat, 
and I rowed with a great deal of irritation of feeling, 
but in profound silence. We reached the other side of 
the pond and found the tide had flowed over the mead- 
ows so much more than usual that it was impossible 
for the boat to reach the dry land by several rods. I 
inquired, with considerable spirit, " What are you going 
to do now?" " Why, I suppose I shall have to wade, 
if there is no other way to get on dry land.''' I began 
to turn the boat towards home again. " Stop," said 
she ; " if you can't get any nearer the land, let me get 
out." " What, into the water ! You will get your 
death of cold." " Well, then, you can carry me to the 
land ; you have thick boots on ; you will not wet vour 
feet." " I don't believe I shall try it." " Well, then, 
stop, and land me as near the dry land as you can, and 
16 



242 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

I will get out some way. If you take me home I shall 
have to go around." " Then you are bent on going?" 
" Yes, if I can possibly get there." I found it of no 
use to dissuade her, so in a rage I turned the boat, and 
rowing it as far on to the meadow as I could, jumped 
out into the water, caught her in my arms and started 
for dry ground. I set her on the land and returned 
home. After my fit of passion had passed away, I be- 
gan to reflect, and the more I thought upon the occur- 
rences of the morning, and upon my past life, the more 
uneasy and restless I felt. 

The result of his reflections was, that he made up 
his mind to go to the meeting himself; and what he 
met with there was instrumental in turning him into 
the right way. In speaking of the incident above re- 
lated, he said, " I bless God for a persevering wife, for 
if she had not thus persevered, I should have con- 
tinued in my sins." 

An anecdote is told of a wealthy and worldly-minded 
man, who was walking at leisure, and thinking within 
himself, " I am a happy man, with a large fortune, all 
of which I have acquired myself, so that I am depend- 
ent on no one. It -is all my own." Just then a thun- 
derstorm drove him for shelter into the open door of a 
meeting-house. As he entered, the preacher was an- 
nouncing his text, " Ye are not your own ; ye are 
bought with a price." At the sound of words so op- 
portune, the rich man started ; and, as he listened, he 
saw his folly, and became henceforward, taught by the 
Spirit, a wiser and humbler man. 

Our Father in Heaven is often pleased to make use 
of apparently accidental circumstances for the accom- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 243 

plishment of his gracious purposes. Such a case was re- 
lated by John de Liefde, in Sunday at Home, of a Dutch 
painter, who was appointed a member of a fire-brigade, 
and forgot to appear at the town-hall as required by 
law, to have his name registered. The penalty was a 
fine of five shillings, or one day's imprisonment. As 
five shillings was half a week's wages, he thought it 
would be cheaper to go to prison, and so, on Seventh- 
day evening, he went to the jail, where he was locked 
in with a dozen others, who were in the same plight 
with himself, and who received him with cheers. 

. Some were playing cards, and some were humming 
vulgar songs. The painter, who was a pious man, did 
not enjoy his situation among them, but lifting up his 
heart to the Lord for help and guidance, he took a 
little Bible from his pocket, and drew near the window 
to catch the sunset rays, and offered to read a few pages 
to the others. 

The prisoners drew near around the painter, who 
opened his book at the fifteenth chapter of Luke, and 
began reading the parable of the Prodigal Son. By 
the time he had finished the last verse the sun set. 

" I know that story very well," said a voice. " It is 
from the Bible." 

" I never heard it before," said another. " It is a fine 
story." 

" Have you never read the Bible ?" asked the painter. 

" No, we don't," replied the last speaker. 

"Ah, you are a Catholic," said some voices. " Your 
priests forbid you to read the Bible, don't they ?" 

The painter, perceiving that the conversation was 
about to turn into a dispute about Protestants and 
Catholics, at once raised his voice and said : 

"But your ministers do not forbid you to read that 



244 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

book. "Well, then, permit me to ask you, have you 
read it ?" 

The company was silent. There was a pause. At 
length a voice said : 

" Yes, I read a little of it when a boy, but I have for- 
gotten all about it." 

" I have no time to read books," said another. 

" I cannot read at all," said a third one. 

" "Well, then, if you have no objection, we will read 
it to-morrow," said the painter. 

" Very well," cried the prisoners. " It will help us to 
shorten the day." 

The next day the painter again read to the prisoners, 
and they agreed to hold a religious meeting; in which 
he pointed out to them the love of God in sending 
Christ into the world, and exhorted them to take the 
Redeemer as their Master. His words seemed to make 
considerable impression on those about him. 

About six months after, he learned that one of the 
company was awakened, during that day in jail, to a 
sense of his sinfulness and of the Lord's mercy, and had 
since abandoned the way of the world. 

In the Christian Advocate, of New York, I met with 
an incident which shows that even so simple a thing as 
the handing of a tract to a fellow-traveller, may be a 
link in a chain of events of the highest importance to 
an immortal being. 

A woman who was on her way to a Western city to 
enter upon a responsible position as a teacher, on 
entering a car at the New Haven Depot in Connecticut, 
saw a small printed leaf on one of the cushions. Seat- 
ing herself, she examined the leaflet, which proved to 
be a part of the fifth chapter of Matthew, containing 
the Beatitudes. Her eyes happened first to fall upon 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 245 

the eighth verse, " Blessed are the pure in heart : for 
they shall see God," and, hardly knowing why she did 
so, she emphasized it hy a penciled line, and added her 
initials to the margin. Raising her eyes, her attention 
was attracted to a young man on the opposite seat. 
He was apparently about seventeen years old, had a fine 
head, and his appearance was that of a youth of un 
usual promise. But there were tell-tale marks of dissi- 
pation. He was flashily dressed, and his face indicated 
the beginning of fast living ; yet it was so honest and 
ingenuous a face that it seemed to reveal the inner his- 
tory of a boy whose better nature was striving for the 
mastery over evil influences. She was interested in 
him, in spite of herself; and, as she rose to leave the 
car, she was moved by a sudden impulse to place the 
leaf in his hand. He looked up in surprise, and, evi- 
dently impressed by her face and manner, accepted it, 
with a bow of acknowledgment. 

In the stress of new scenes and experiences the inci- 
dent of the railway car was quite forgotten. In course 
of time she returned to Connecticut, and accepted an 
invitation to visit an old friend, whose summer home 
was in a retired village among the mountains. 

There she met with a young man, who was the 
Superintendent of a First-day school connected with 
the only place of worship in the village, whose presence 
seemed strangely familiar ; and yet she could not tell 
when or where they had met. They were introduced 
to each other, and he asked for her full name. When 
it was given, he produced from a vest pocket a bit of 
paper, worn and ragged ; on which she recognized her 
own initials and the penciled line around the eighth 
verse of the fifth chapter of Matthew. Then she re- 
membered their former interview in the car. He 
related to her the following story : — 

"When you saw me in the railroad car, I had been 



246 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

for six months in the employ of a Boston man who 
kept the largest and most elegant liquor saloon in the 
city. In justice to myself I will say that I did not seek 
the position, but I accepted it because I was in great 
need of employment, and received larger wages than 
I could get elsewhere. My grandfather was a Metho- 
dist clergyman, and I was brought up in a Christian 
home. I was kept at school until the death of both 
my parents, when I found myself without one penny 
to call my own, and you will see how I was tempted by- 
easy work and good pay. At first I did not at all enjoy 
what I was obliged daily to see and hear. I wanted 
money, however, and resolved that I would not be 
influenced by my surroundings. But I clo not believe- 
it possible for any young man, however well he maybe- 
fortified, to stay six months in such a place and escape 
contamination. I yielded so gradually that I did not 
realize what a rowdy I had become, nor how debased 
I had grown in taste and feeling. 

"I had just been reading an evil book, and my mind 
was so full of its impure suggestions that I hardly 
noticed any one in the car; and when a beautiful lady 
suddenly dropped something into my hand, it seemed 
more like a vision than reality, and as if an angel said 
to me, 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall 
see God.'" I cannot describe the sudden revulsion of 
feeling that I experienced ; it seemed as if demons were- 
raging and tearing within me. I grew sick in body 
and mind, and upon landing in Boston, instead of re- 
porting to my employer I went to my boarding-place,, 
and locked myself into my room. But I could not stay 
alone, and, not wishing to meet the other inmates of 
the house, I did not go to the supper-table, but went 
out into the street. Church bells were ringing, and 
feeling that I must do something or die, I walked into 
a mission chapel, and when the minister read the text, 
what should it be but this, ' Blessed are the pure in 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 247 

heart : for they shall see God !" and at the very sound 
of the words, the tumult within me began again. I 
grew calmer as I listened ; yet every word that good 
man said made me more wretched, for my eyes were 
open to see how degraded I was in mind and heart, 
and what a gulf there was between me and my former 
self, and it seemed as if I never could be innocent and 
clean-hearted asrain." 

After the service was over, the minister entered into 
conversation with him. He told the young man he 
remembered hearing his grandfather preach, and invited 
him to go home with him. He helped and encouraged 
him until he found forgiveness and peace in Christ, 
and felt in himself the hope of an upright manhood. 
The young man was at this time a book-keeper in a 
manufactory near the village. 

In the anecdote which follows it was not a tract, but 
the judicious conversation of a fellow passenger which 
was blessed in producing a change of thought and of 
intention. 

As a train was about to start for a distant place on 
the sea-shore, a young gentleman, in a hurried manner 
entered. On the porter accosting him somewhat rudely 
with the question, " Where are you going ?" he peev- 
ishly replied, "To hell ! — away with you !" and imme- 
diately the train started. One of the other passengers 
was shocked at the expression, and carefully observed 
the person of him who had uttered it, who was well 
dressed, but was somewhat pale and sickly. He waited 
till the other passengers had removed, when he watched 
his opportunity and contrived to sit near the young 
traveller. Entering into conversation, he made him- 
self very agreeable to him, and the}' continued dis- 
coursing till the evening drew on. At length he said 
to him, with somewhat of a serious air and tone, 



248 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

"When do you expect to arrive at your journey's 
end?" 

"I can hardly tell," replied the youth, "as I am 
going to a place" (which he mentioned) "beyond the 
sea, for the benefit of my health ; which I am told is 
the <*nly chance of my recovery." 

"Oh, I did not mean that," rejoined the other; " but 
the place to which you told the porter yon were going, 
on entering the carriage ?" 

His companion paused ; the recollection forced itself 
upon him, and he observed, w 7 ith an air of thought- 
fulness, 

" Perhaps it may be so." 

"Perhaps it may," replied his fellow-traveller, and 
proceeded to point out from the Scriptures, the end of 
a course of sin. " But," he added, " there is a way 
of escape ! " and, being encouraged to proceed, he un- 
folded the Gospel to him. 

On reaching the place of his destination, he was 
thanked by the young man for the interest he had 
taken in him, who expressed a feeling of regret that he 
was to part with him. But having procured a Bible, 
he went with him on board the vessel, and putting it 
into his hand, asked him to read it with p ray er, which, 
with great emotion he promised to do, the tear glisten- 
ing in his eye. They took leave of each other, never, 
most likely to meet again, except in a world where the 
interview and its results will be made known. 

When Gerard T. Hopkins, of Baltimore, visited the 
Indians in 1804, at Detroit, he met with a Major Pike, 
a native of New Jersey, who had considerable knowl- 
edge of the Society of Friends. In the course of con- 
versation he inquired after Peter Yarnall, and said that 
Peter and himself were in the same military company 
during the Revolutionary war. He related the follow- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 249 

ing circumstance, which Gerard has preserved in his 
account of his journey : 

He told us that several officers, with Peter and him- 
self, were lodging together; that one night Peter 
alarmed them all with loud screams to such a degree, 
that on first awaking he supposed the enemy had fallen 
upon their army with bayonets. Peter was on his feet and 
appeared to be awake. They spoke to him repeatedly 
and endeavored to approach him, but every advance 
they made increased his alarm. Finally he recovered 
himself and became composed, and for several days 
afterwards, instead of satisfying their inquiries, ap- 
peared to be sunk in distress and gloom. He after- 
wards told them he considered his alarm as a warning 
to him, and that his fright arose from a plain represen- 
tation of the devil come to take him off. Peter in a 
short time left the army, and (said the Major) I always 
believed that his reformation had its rise from that cir- 
cumstance. 

Peter Yarnall's reformation was a thorough one, and 
he became an eminent preacher of the Gospel, enforc- 
ing the importance of submission to the cross of Christ, 
which he had before revolted from. The Lord's warn- 
ings are extended to many, but there are many who do 
not profit by them as they should. 

In the Newton Republican (Kansas) of Sixth Month 
11th 1891, there was published a letter from Frederick 
C. Browne, then a prisoner in the county jail. The 
article is as follows : 

Fred C. Browne, who is now confined in the county 
jail waiting to be taken to the penitentiary, is the au- 
thor of the following letter, which he requests the Re- 
publican to publish. It will be remembered that on the 



250 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

evening of April 16th, Browne went to the Palace 
Clothing Store to purchase clothing. He selected goods 
to the amount of thirty-six dollars, giving in payment 
a check on the Citizens' Bank, signed by Ady F. 
Hodges. Upon investigation it was found that the 
check was forged and Mr. Browne was arrested Thurs- 
day ; he was convicted and sentenced to two years in 
the penitentiary : 
" To the young people of Newton : 

" Kind people — It is a self-evident truth that the 
ways of the world, the gay and the frivolous, are not 
always to be desired. Experience teaches that frivolity 
is but the stepping-stone to a life of degradation, per- 
fidy and shame. This is the experience of the writer 
at least, and assuredly the experience of thousands who 
for their frivolous, unffodlv, dishonorable conduct now 
repent in sack-cloth and ashes, as it were, behind the 
bars of the State penitentiaries, reform schools, bastiles 
and bridewells. ' Show me the company you keep and 
I will tell you what you are,' is a proverb that can 
scarcely be doubted. At the jail in this city, confined 
therein for safe keeping, with a sentence of two years' 
hard labor at the State Penitentiary you ma}' find a 
young man known as Fred C. Browne, who is to-day 
considered a convict. A young man of twenty years, 
in the prime of life, a man that might have been an 
honor to the State which gave him the advantages of a 
fine education, had he so desired; and more than all 
this he might have been a comforting staff to his aged 
father and infantile brothers and sisters. But what was 
once a bright and happy home is now made desolate. 

" Reader, do you ask to what I owe my downfall ? 
For the benefit of wayward, unthinking youths of this 
city, I have been persuaded to relate my experience. 
Born at Shelbyville, Illinois, a town of some five thou- 
sand people, I had the honor of graduating at the high 
school as valedictorian of my class. Not having much 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 251 

money 'to blow in,' as the slang phrase has it, I ob- 
tained a position as clerk in a grocery store, thereby 
forming the acquaintance of travelling salesmen who, 
considering me a green hand, endeavored to break me 
in. Card playing followed; money honestly earned 
fell into the hands of shrewd men, and in order to 
maintain my position as leader, I had to resort to a po- 
lite way of stealing by ' knocking down.' Soon this 
was discovered and my father made good the deficiency 
to save his name from the talk of saloon loafers. Of 
course I was discharged, but chance favored me and I 
was soon in a law office, with every means that wealth 
could procure in the way of becoming a lawyer. But 
this was not to my taste. Collections were made by 
me for the firm and the money pocketed. A short 
time after the day of settlement came, and knowing I 
was short in my accounts with my employers, I assumed 
a different name, procured a railroad ticket from an 
operator, and skipped the country. I have never seen 
my relatives since, not even have I been known by the 
honorable name my parents gave me, and were the 
news of this affair to reach the ears of Dr. Daniel Win- 
ter, who believes me dead, I certainly would bring his 
gray head to the grave with sadness. Young man, 
have you any s < ympathy for a deep-hearted criminal ? 
Then take warning by this and leave the saloon alone, 
leave the card-table stand on its legs, for you will rue 
it too late. There is no cross-cut to fortune. He who 
lives and saves his pennies to-day will be the millionaire 
twenty years hence. ' Take care of the dimes and 
nickels, and the dollars will take care of themselves.' 

" The name of Fred Browne is not known in New 
Mexico. There it was that my first desire to become 
noted as a criminal occurred to me. Never before Oc- 
tober 23rd, 1887, did I think of what I had been. When 
I found myself a fugitive from home and friends, young 
in years, but old in crime, I then, like a good many 



9X0 



FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMARKS. 



others, resolved to take a whole loaf or none. Result 
none, save that I am a convict. My life is what I made 
it, and, readers, your life is what }-ou make it. 

" The first step toward my present condition I attribute 
to the use of tobacco, with the accompanying habits of 
lying, theft and reading dime novels. My now angel 
mother forbade its use, my school teachers forbade the 
use of this filthy weed upon the premises of the school 
ground, and, simply to be smart, I contracted the habit 
of chewing and smoking tobacco, and, as ' leader of the 
gang,' induced my associates to follow my example. 
The next thing I knew was, that I found myself in deep 
waters. Unable to retrace my steps, I took a plunge 
head first, not caring whether such conduct would 
bring shame or grief upon my dear mother's head. 
Then followed the neglect of her advice and her teach- 
ings. What causes the heartaches of so many mothers? 
What wrecks so many lives that might otherwise be 
happy ? 

" So agent is more subtle than the wiles of the devil, 
when he tells a young man or woman of twenty to strike 
out, see the world, let mother's advice be, you are able 
to take care of yourself. These are the flowery argu- 
ments at which the young people jump, but, alas, like 
the writer, they assume that they know it all, and when 
mother is no more, they are bound to confess that they 
know nothing. They are wise in their conceit, but fools 
in the eyes of common-sense fathers and mothers. 

"Another equally prime factor in destroying happy 
homes is the prevailing desire of possessing a large 
quantity of fine and costly dress goods. It is the am- 
bition of every young lady to appear well dressed. To 
a great many life is a burden, unless they can rule as 
queen among their associates. ' To be in society first, 
last and all the time is all I care for.' But beware. Did 
it ever occur to any cautious reader, that beneath all 
artificial attempts at appearing beautiful, lies the cruel 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 253 

heart of the flirt, the adventuress, the criminal, the 
smooth-tongued gambler, and the thousand and one 
other reprobative characters ? Beware of the wolves 
that appear in sheep's clothing, or you will regret your 
life, and answer that great question, * Is life worth liv- 
ing ?' in the negative. 

" I trust this may catch the eyes of some one who is 
yet in the dark as to the world. Should this reach you, 
dear friend, think of Fred C. Browne, when he asks 
you in all fairness to consider first your parents' wishes. 
He will then be repaid and perhaps feel that to some ex- 
tent his reformation was effected through some reader. 
I thank you, dear reader, and beg to submit myself. 
Very respectfully, 

Fred C. Browne." 

There was a strange auction in one of the deep, in- 
accessible dells of the Black Forest some years ago. 
It was in the dead of night. The place was lighted by 
torches, which cast a ghastly glare through the dark- 
ness of the abyss. Savage-looking men, armed to the 
teeth, were sitting in a circle, while one stood in the 
midst, holding up articles for sale. It was a gang of 
brigands who that evening had robbed a stage-coach. 
According to their custom they were engaged in selling 
the stolen articles among themselves. After a good 
many pieces of dress and travelling bags had been dis- 
posed of, and while the glass and bottle were going 
from hand to hand, and each member of the company 
vied with his neighbor in making unseemly jokes, and 
setting the assembly in a roar, a New Testament was 
held up last of all. 

The man who acted as auctioneer introduced this 
" article " with some blasphemous remarks, which 



254 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

made the cavern resound with laughter. One of the 
company suggested jokingly that he should read a 
chapter for their edification. This was unanimously 
applauded, and the auctioneer, turning up a page at 
random, began reading in a voice of mock devotion. 

While the company were greatly amused at this 
sacrilegious scoffing, it was not observed that one of 
them, a middle-aged man, who was one of the oldest 
members of the gang, and used to be foremost both in 
their crimes and their debauchery, became silent, and, 
clasping his hands on his knees, was absorbed in deep 
thought. The passage which the auctioneer read was 
the same which that man's father had read years ago 
at family worship, on the morning of the day when he, 
to escape the hands of the police, fled from the parental 
dwelling, never to return again. 

At the sound of the words which he remembered so 
well, the happy family circle of which he had been a 
member rose to his mind. In his imagination he saw 
them all seated round the breakfast table, which was 
crowned with the blessings of a new day. He saw his 
venerable old father sitting with the open Bible, read- 
ing the chapter. He saw his kind, tender-hearted 
mother sitting by his father's side, attentively listening. 
He saw himself with his brothers and sisters joining in 
the devotional exercise, which entreated for them the 
guidance, protection, and blessing of God during the 
day. He saw it all clear before his mind, as it had hap- 
pened that morning. 

But now, at this moment, it was as if the soul awoke 
out of a long sleep of years — as if the snow of a long 
winter melted away on a sudden at the sound of that 
well-known Bible word. Absorbed in those hallowed 
recollections, he forgot all that was round him, heard 
nothing of all the scoffing and blaspheming that was 
passing in his presence, until on a sudden he was 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. ZOO 

wakened out of his reverie by a rude tap on the shoulder, 
which was accompanied by the question: — 

"Now, old dreamer, what will you give for that 
book? You need it more than any one of us, for you 
are undoubtedly the biggest sinner under the firma- 
ment." 

"So I am," he answered, struck to the very bottom 
of his heart by the truth which he recognized in 
that rough joke. " Give me that book. I will pay its 
full price." 

The next day the brigands dispersed through the 
neighborhood to turn their bargains into money. But 
the man who bought the Bible repaired to a lonely place, 
where he spent the whole day and night in the agonies 
of unspeakable remorse. But God had mercy upon 
that repenting sinner, and sent a message of peace and 
reconciliation to his heart. The next morning on enter- 
ing a village, Avhere he resolved to speak to a minister, 
he heard that the gang was overtaken the night before 
by a detachment of soldiers, and taken to prison. 

His resolution was confirmed now all the more. He 
told the minister the whole of his life's story, and 
requested him to direct him to the police office, where 
he gave himself up to the hands of justice. This proof 
of the sincerity of his repentance saved his life. His 
comrades w r ere all put to death, but he obtained a 
reprieve from the Grand Duke, to whom his story was 
reported. After an imprisonment of seven years he 
was set free on account of his exemplary conduct, A 
Christian nobleman took him into his service, and he 
proved a blessing to his master's household till he died 
in peace, praising Jesus Christ, who came into the 
world to save sinners, of whom he confessed himself to 
be the chief. 

"Every good and every perfect gift cometh down 
from the Father of Light." There can be no gift more 



25G FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

precious than the visitations of Divine grace through 
which our salvation is effected. These visitations may 
vary much in their attendant circumstances, but they 
all come from the same unfailing fountain of good, 
whether they reach the heart directly from the heav- 
enly source, whether they are impressed upon the mind 
by the force of pious example, or whether the indi- 
vidual is awakened to a sense of his condition by words 
fitly spoken under the authority of the Head of the 
Church. 

A. J. Jarrell, in the Guide to Holiness, says that " in 
1887 I attended a great camp-meeting in Georgia. 
One morning I noticed a big-hearted farmer very rest- 
less on my left. I said to him, ' Brother, you want to 
talk — I'll stop all others and hear from you now.' He 
sprang to his feet and said, ' I do want to talk. I want 
to tell what I never told a living soul before. Across 
that altar sits my wife — she knows nothing of the secret 
purpose I am going to tell. I was impressed before 
the war, but lost all religion in the army. I became 
worse than I ever had been. I came home, but my 
dear wife was as true as steel. I hated the church — I 
hated the Bible — I was harder than a rock. Years 
went by and all the time there was a gulf between my 
wife and me. I hated her religion and she seemed to 
love it more even than she did me. No man ever had 
a better wife. 

"Now I come to my secret purpose. I determined 
I would sweep all that Bible nonsense out of my house. 
Every time I would try to settle it for good, I would 
run against her pure life, and I could not get an inch 
further. Again and again I failed. 

"At last fsaid if I can just unsettle her, I will know 
it is all a sham. I picked my chance. Children all out, 
I said, 'Wife, we have been very happy together. Wo 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 257 

used to think and feel and act just alike and were so 
happy. But it is different now. You believe in that 
old Bible; I know it is not true. You believe in pray- 
ing and serving God ; I know that it is all sham. Now 
let us throw that all aside ; let us be happy like we 
once were. 

" She said not a word while I was talking. When 
I was done she leaned forward — her eyes kindling as 
she spoke, like I had so often seen them. ' Husband, 
I am very sorry I have not been a better wife. If God 
spares me I will do better. I will go with you any- 
where you want to go. I will work these fingers down 
to the stumps for you — but hear me — I will die in my 
tracks before I will yield one inch from my Bible or 
my God.' 

"Brethren, when she said that the lightning struck 
me — the old time conviction. She had got her grap- 
pling hooks into me and jerked me clean over to her 
side again. I am here to-day — happy on my way to 
heaven. That good wife did it." 

I went back next year to the same camp-meeting. 
I missed him. Second day I missed him. The third 
day I said, "Where is Brother White?" "Have you 
not heard ? He died last January, blessing his good 
wife, who had saved him from ruin by her heroism." 

In 1874, J. M. Buckley, the editor of The Christian 
Advocate, attended at Cincinnati a convention of the 
" Women Crusaders," in which one of the women re- 
lated her own experience : — 

She said that in the town where she lived a number 
of women assembled in the church to pray for those 
who went out upon the crusade. She was one of the 
active workers, and they went from saloon to saloon, 
meeting with either sympathetic or merely civil treat- 
ment, until they reached a certain place. The pro- 
17 



258 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

prietor demanded of them in the gruffest and most 
threatening manner their business. They told him 
they were crusaders and wished to sing and pray : 
whereupon he cursed them, declaring that that was his 
place, and "if they had no business there they had got 
to get out, and if they didn't start forthwith he would 
put them out." 

As he advanced upon them the woman whose ex- 
perience we heard, lost her temper and said to him : 
" My husband is a lawyer, and you have used language 
to us that no man has a right to use to a woman in the 
State of Ohio. I shall report your conduct, and see 
that you are prosecuted." 

AY hereupon he grew more violent, declaring that if 
they " did not vacate the premises at once, he would 
pitch them into the gutter." 

They returned to the place of prayer and told their 
story, at which the oldest and most devout of the com- 
pany said : — 

"Sisters, I feel that we have made a mistake. We 
went forth in the spirit of Jesus, but we came back in 
the spirit of the wicked one. We cannot expect the 
blessing of God until we go to that man and apologize 
for our conduct." 

The woman who related the incident continued: — 

"After spending some hours in prayer we determined 
the next morning to take up the cross and go to that 
man and ask his pardon. We started to do so. As we 
filed into the room he scowled and sprang up, and, 
seizing a chair, fairly shrieked at us, '•Get out! 3 

" Tremblingly I said: 'We have not come on a cru- 

j sade; we have come to apologize to yon. We came 

J here yesterday, professedly in the spirit of Christ; to 

; try to lead you to a better life; but we forgot ourselves, 

and used language that we ought not to have used, and 

showed the very evil spirit that we were trying to lead 

others to forsake.' 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 259 

"I had got thus far, when such a change took place 
in that man's face as I never before saw. His features 
relaxed, he broke utterly down and said : — 

"'You came to me yesterday like a man, and you 
talked to me like a man ; and if you had not gone out 
I would have broken your head as I would that of a 
man. But now you come and talk to me like my 
mother and my sister and my dead wife' — then, paus- 
ing, he said: 'This is an awful business that I am in. 
I know it, and I am going to get out of it.' " 

Some years ago, C. Spurgeon, intending to preach 
in the Crystal Palace, London, on a certain date, him- 
self went to the Palace for the purpose of giving orders 
as to where the partitions were to be put up, that his 
voice might be heard over as wide an area as possible. 

f He tried his voice from various parts, reciting aloud 
the text, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away 
the sin of the world." Years passed by, and when 

; Spurgeon was laid aside by sickness, a message came 
to him requesting that he would visit a man who was 
dying, and was desirous to speak with him. He, being 

i nnable to go, sent his brother, and the dying man said: 

( " Tell Mr. Spurgeon that twenty years ago I was 
working in the Crystal Palace, making some alterations 
previous to a sermon which he was going to give. He 
came to the Palace to see the partitions raised, and 
called out several times, 'Behold the Lamb of God.' 
It was that text sounded out in a strange manner, that 

I was the arrow that God used to pierce my heart, and 

C made me see my Saviour." 

The Presbyterian of Philadelphia relates the following 
incident: A little girl, one evening, clambered upon 



260 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARK5. 

her father's knee, and, looking up tearfully into his 
face, said, " Papa, why is it that you do not love Jesus ?" 
Had a pistol been tired orf close to his ear, the man 
could not have been more startled. Through the 
blessing of God, that question from the lips of his 
young daughter, sent him in penitence to the cross of 
Christ. 

Under date of Sixth Month 30th, 1889, the writer 

j received a letter written by his valued friend, W. P. 

I Townsend, of West Chester, in which he relates from 

• memory an incident which happened in 1846, on a 

steamboat on the Ohio River, as he was returning in 

company with Samuel Cope, a favored minister in the 

Society of Friends, from the attendance of Ohio Yearly 

Meeting. He says : — 

There were on board quite a number of passengers, 
many of whom spent their time playing cards at a series 
of tables along the saloon or dining room. The weather 
was warm, water low, progress tedious, and some four 
hundred hogs down in the lower part of the vessel. 
To avoid the odors and the scenes in the cabin, and to- 
procure some fresh air, Samuel and myself had availed 
ourselves of the shade of an awning stretched, over the 
forward part of the boat, outside of the cabin. Sitting 
there one afternoon quietly, quite a number, perhaps 
fifteen or twenty of the passengers, gave up their cards 
in the saloon and came out and took seats near. It 
seemed as though a little silence spread over us, when 
one of the men sitting some twenty or twenty-five feet 
/'away from Samuel, called the attention of the company 
I to him, by saying in a tone of voice loud enough for 
all to hear, "Look at that old man sitting over there; 
just look at his face; I tell you, there is something good 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 261 

in that old man; just look at his face." Venturing to 
raise my eyes I found there was an expression there, 
calculated to impress the beholder; and I do not won- 
der that these men, rough and uncouth as to outward 
appearance, were impressed by the solemnity and awe 
so perceptibly stamped on his features. There was 
nothing said, but the inference is, that the heart of that 
good man was secretly engaged in silent supplication 
for the eternal welfare of the seemingly thoughtless 
( minds around him. 

/ These incidents show the importance of guarding 

(well our thoughts and the frame of spirit in which we 

indulge. For w r e know not who may be impressed, 

either for good or for evil, by our words or actions, or 

even by our countenance and deportment. J. M. 

Buckley, the editor of the Christian Advocate, had a long 

• acquaintance with General Gilmore Marston, of New 

( Hampshire, and once asked him how it was that he had 

never become a Christian ? 

"Well," said he, "I might have been perhaps, though 
I won't say so positively, if it hadn't been for this : 
When I was a student in college an evangelist came 
along that deeply impressed me. I sat one evening by 
the side of one of the young men, and the evangelist 
came to him and said: 'Young man, will you give 
your heart to God to-night?' 'No,' said the young man, 
' I'm not ready/ 'You do not think there is anything 
I could say that would move you ?' 'No.' 'Well,' said 
he, 'if that is the case there is no need of my wasting 
my time any longer with you. Have you a piece of 
tobacco with you?' And," said the General, "the cool 
business way in which he passed from exhortation to 
tobacco made me feel as if there was nothing in it, 
and the feeling I had soon went away." 



262 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKSi 

Various are the ways in which it pleases Him who is 
perfect both in wisdom and goodness, to awaken the 
careless and rebellious sons and daughters to the dan- 
ger of their situation, and to lead them to seek his help 
and forgiveness. 

A minister once called to converse with a family on 
the subject of religion. A gay young woman, perceiv- 
ing him, withdrew through the back door to the house 
of a neighbor, saying, as she ran, " He shall not get 
me this time." The minister came in disappointed. 
He bethought himself, however, of a method of reach- 
ing the fugitive, and picking up a Bible, turned down 
a leaf at a passage, " The wicked flee when no man 
pursueth," and requested the mother to hand it to her 
when she should return. She returned in triumphant 
glee after the minister had left the house, joyous in her 
thoughtlessness, when her mother showed her the pas- 
sage. Shelookedatit,hercountenancefell. The thought 
struck her that she could not flee from God, from whose 
searching eye not the remotest distance, nor the deep- 
est darkness could hide her. Deep conviction succeeded 
to serious reflections. She now sought the minister, 
and with weeping eyes made her apology to him, which 
was rather an humble confession than an apology. 
" Make your confession to God," said he. " Who am 
I? You have given me neither offense nor injury. 
But you have offended your Saviour, and to Him you 
must go." 

The Youth's Companion relates the following incident : 

Many years ago a gentleman, his wife, and their little 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS 263 

boy ten years old, were visiting the State Prison at 
^Charlestown, Mass. While they were passing through 
one of the corridors, the gentleman made some inquiry 
of the attendant in regard to a man sentenced to im- 
prisonment for life for a brutal murder. " By the way," 
said the officer, stopping before an open door, " this is 
his cell," and as the three visitors drew near, the father 
gently pushed his little boy inside, and closed the door. 
The child was terribly frightened, and at his screams 
the door was at once opened, his mother saying, as she 
took him in her arms and wiped his eyes, "No, no, 
they shan't shut up my little son in prison !" As they 
walked on, the boy gave one more glance at the dreaded 
cell, and saw upon the door in large yellow figures the 
number " 68." Years passed by. His parents died. 
He became a sailor, and at the age of twenty-three was 
second officer on board a large steamer plying between 
New York and the Isthmus of Panama. Unfortu- 
nately, however, he contracted the habit of drinking, 
and lost his situation. Unable to obtain another, he 
went to Boston, where his uncle, a man in prosperous 
circumstances, entertained him with the utmost hospi- 
tality, obtained for him a situation in New York, and 
gave him a liberal amount of money and a railroad 
ticket for that city. On his way to the station the 
young man stopped at a saloon for " one glass," and 
falling in with some old companions, remained until 
midnight, when he was turned into the street by the 
proprietor. His money and ticket were gone, and half 
mad with drink, he resolved to rob his uncle's house. 
He entered the house successfully, but while he was 
packing a large quantity of plate and other valuables 
some member of the family discovered him, and his 
uncle, exasperated at his ingratitude, gave him in charge 
of the police. He was sentenced to four } T ears in the 
State Prison. Upon his arrival there he was conducted 
to a cell, upon the door of which he saw in large figures 



264 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

the number " 68." It was the same cell into which he 
had been thrust when a child. Up to this time he had 
been in a state of sullen indifference, but suddenly 
memories of his childhood came rushing upon his 
mind. He heard his mother say, " No, no, they shan't 
shut up my little son in prison !" and throwing himself 
upon the floor he wept bitterly. 

There upon the cold, bare stones he breathed a fer- 
vent prayer that God would help him in his great afflic- 
tion. He rose from his knees with a determination to 
redeem his lost character. After serving out his sen- 
tence he obtained, with some assistance, a situation 
aboard a vessel. A few months later the warden of the 
prison received a letter, from which the following ex- 
tract is made, " I deem it my duty to drop you a line. 
I should have written long ago, but I thought it might 
be best to delay it until I had been long enough in the 
service to know whether I liked it or nor. It was 
rather hard at first — at least it seemed so to me. But 
now I can say I am perfectly satisfied, and 'was never 
more at home in a ship. I have the good-will of all the 
officers, and especially of the captain. I am coxswain of 
his boat, and he tells me that he will get me an appoint- 
ment as boatswain in the service, on my return. " 

"A few years had passed," says the warden of the 
prison, who tells this true story, " when a gentleman 
whom I did not recognize, w T as shown into my office, 
and after greeting me warmly, introduced himself as 
my former prisoner. He had risen step by step, and 
now occupied a position far above any he had hoped 

•to attain. Best of all, he had faithfully abstained from 
liquor since the day when he became ' Number 68,' 

y and asked God to aid him in retrieving his wasted past." 

A minister had delivered a course of lectures on in- 
fielity, and as time went on he was delighted to find 
that one who had been regarded as an infidel was anx- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 265 

ions to unite himself with the congregation. " Which 

(of my arguments did you find the most convincing?" 
asked the minister. " No argument moved me," was 
the reply, " but the face and manner of an old blind 
woman who sits in one of the front rows. I supported 
her one day as she was groping along ; and putting out 
/ her hand to me, she asked, ' Do you love my blessed Sa- 
Iviourf Her look of deep content, her triumphant 
tones, made me realize as never before, that He who 
conld suffice to make one so helpless bright and glad, 
{ must be a Blessed Saviour indeed." 

The Christian Weekly publishes the following inci- 
dent under the heading, " The File-Grinder's Story:" 

I met an old " tile-grinder" a few years since, who 
told me the following story : 

In the room where he had worked nearly twenty 
years, were twelve massive grindstones. Each stone 
had its boss; who daily " dressed" it, and, mounted on 
a wooden seat above it, ground files. Occasionally a 
stone while going at full speed would burst, flying in all 
directions with tremendous velocity, and as two men 
had been killed in that room, and a stone might burst 
at any time, it made the men quiet and cautious ; yet 
among them all there was no Christian. 

It was just after the noon hour, and the operatives 
had come in from a half-hour discussion about the 
genuineness of some recent conversions among the 
" furnace men." The general opinion was that it was 
a matter of imagination, and if there was a God no 
man had ever heard from Him ; that He never did 
either call or warn any one. 

The " speed" had started, the grinders were in their 
places, and work was progressing rapidly, when one of 
the men got down from his seat, pale and agitated, and 
sta^ered to tne other side of the room. He was 



266 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

hardly able to speak for an instant, but when pressed, 
said: 

" Boys, something or somebody said to me, ' Get 
down from your seat; the stone will burst.' " 

Hardly had he said this when the very stone over 
which he had been working burst in pieces, crushing 
his seat to a shapeless mass, and breaking the heavy 
" guards" as if they were glass. 

There was no more scoffing that day. 

" Sir," added the old file-cutter, " we all felt that it 
was God who spoke, and it made us pretty thoughtful. 
The man to whom it happened died last year a happy 
Christian, and there are five of us in that room that 
are trying to serve God. It is hard work to keep 
straight there, but it pays. A man can do his work 
better, and he feels that if a stone should burst and 
kill him it would be all right with him." 

" So you think that God really spoke to that man, 
do you?" saidl. 

" Certainly I do, sir," he said, earnestly. " He saw 
that we were all asleep ; that it would take a loud, 
strong voice to awaken us, and so He spoke as He did, 
loud and strong, and we could not help hearing." 

Friend, look back over your life. Has not God 
spoken to you many times ? Have your ears become 
so deafened by the clatter of the world's machinery 
that you can no longer hear his voice ? You are in 
danger. 

In the valuable journal left by John Churchman, 
there are mentioned in close connection the cases of 
two persons who had become members of the Society 
of Friends, but under different feelings. 

When visiting meetings on the Eastern Shore of 
Maryland, he took for a guide John Browning, "who," 
he says, " some time before had been convinced of the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 267 

blessed Truth, by the inward operation of the Holy 
Spirit, without any instrumental means. He had been 
a member of the Church of England, and for his 
sobriety was chosen a vestryman ; but after a time felt 
a scruple in his mind about taking off his hat when he 
entered the church-yard, so-called, fearing it was a 
superstitious adoration of the ground, from its supposed 
lioliness ; but would take it off when he entered the 
worship-house, and walk uncovered to his pew. But 
after a time he could not uncover his head, until what 
they call Divine service began ; which, as he kept atten- 
tive to the scruple in his mind, became very lifeless to 
him, who was inwardly seeking for substance and life. 
He therefore withdrew from it, and after some time 
went to one of our meetings, rather out of curiosity 
than expecting any good, but felt himself owned, and 
had a taste of the peace which the world cannot give, 
and from that time became a constant attender of our 
meetings. 

" We had a meeting at Queen Ann's, amongst a people 
who, for want of keeping to the life of religion, had 
almost lost the form. In conversation at a house in 
the evening, I asked whether she was a Friend's child, 
or one convinced of our principles. Her reply was, 
that when she was young, she lived at a Friend's house, 
and took a notion of going to meeting with them, 
which she had done ever since. Alas ! when notion 
changes the will, and not that faith which works by 
love to the purifying of the heart, the religion is with- 
out reformation, empty and dead." 

Another incident in connection with the same sub- 
ject is related in John Churchman's account of his 
travels in England. He says : — 

We rode to Cornwood, in Northumberland, and 
lodged at the house of a man who had been for several 



268 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

years of a disorderly conduct, and much given to the 
excessive use of strong drink, until he had very much 
impaired his constitution. But it pleased the Lord to 
open his understanding, and make him acquainted 
with his blessed truth, whereby he was made free from 
that evil, and received strength to forsake his old com- 
panions. His joining with Friends was a great grief 
to his wife, who informed me, that through prejudice 
for a time, she would rather he had continued his 
former course of living, than to become a Quaker, until 
observing the sweetness of his temper and the recovery 
of his health in some degree, with a solid and sober 
conduct, she was made to believe in the power by 
which he had known such a victory, and joined her- 
self in the same religious profession ; they appeared to 
be steady Friends. I would to God that all tipplers 
and drunkards would turn to that great Prophet who 
is in Israel, that they might by Him be cleansed from 
that leprosy of sin ! 

It was the "sweetness of temper" and the "solid 
and sober conduct" of this man that was the means 
of convincing his wife of the reality and blessed power 
of the religion he professed. And we believe there is 
no outward agency so effective in spreading the religion 
of our Saviour in the earth as the godly lives of those 
who are truly under its influence. A man of more 
than average mental ability, and who was sceptical as 
to the truths of Christianity, said : "I have read a great 
many books on the evidences of Christianity, and most 
of the arguments in them I can answer satisfactorily to 
my own mind. But the change I have seen in the life 
of my little daughter, in the year or two past, I cannot 
explain. There is evidence of some power working in 
her which I cannot understand." 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS, 269 

Various are the ways and means which the Lord 
makes use of to convince people of their sinful condition 
and of the truths of his Gospel. Jacob Hitter thus 
relates how he was convinced of the unlawfulness of 
war, while in the battle of Brandy wine, during the 
revolutionary war. Though he had before had some 
sense of the horrors of war, yet he had joined the 
militia when about twenty years of age through the 
influence of a clergyman of the Lutheran denomination 
to which he belonged. This man preached the pro- 
priety and necessity of standing in defence of our coun- 
try against her enemies ; " so," ho says, " I was per- 
suaded against my better judgment, to join the army; 
and talking up my musket I entered the American 
service." 

The company and battalion to which I belonged 
marched down to Brandywine at Chadd's Ford, and 
joined the army under command of Washington and 
Lafayette. We had orders to work day and night to 
erect batteries, &c, in order to resist the progress of the 
English army. 

After several days hard labor, we became so drowsy 
that nearly all the men except the sentinels fell asleep. 
General Washington stood in the midst of our camp, 
and called out to us with a loud voice : " Boys, get up 
— but be silent, the enemy is nearly upon us." About 
daylight the alarm gun was fired by the British ; then 
all our army made ready for battle. 

General orders .were given for every company to 
maintain its ranks, and each man to keep his place. 
An awful pause preceded the engagement, and some 
of us stood in solemn silence. I then remembered 
what I had seen and felt of the mercies of God, and was 
afresh convinced that it was contrary to the Divine 



270 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

Will, for a Christian to tight. I was sensible in my 
own heart that I had done wrong in taking up arms, 
and the terrors of the Lord fell upon me. I then 
secretly supplicated the Almighty for preservation, 
covenanting that if He would be pleased to deliver me 
from shedding the blood of my fellow-creatures that 
clay, I would never fight again. Then the love of God 
was shed abroad in' my heart, and all fear of man was 
entirely taken away; and throughout the engagement 
I remained perfectly calm, though the bombshells and 
shot fell round me like hail, cutting down my comrades 
on every side, and tearing off the limbs of the trees like 
a whirlwind; the very rocks quaked, and the hills that 
surrounded us seemed to tremble with the roar of the 
cannon. 

It happened that the standing troops were called into 
action before the militia, of which the brigade that I 
belonged to was partly composed. Towards evening, 
(for the battle lasted from sunrise to sunset,) our bat- 
talion was ordered to march forward to the charge. 
Our way was over the dead and dying, and I saw many 
bodies crushed to pieces beneath the wagons, and we 
were bespattered with blood. But no orders were 
given to use our small arms, and thus I was enabled to 
rejoice, that though I was provided with sixty car- 
tridges, I did not discharge my musket once that day. 
Forever magnified be the G-od of my life that I was 
mercifully delivered from spilling the blood of any of 
my fellow-creatures. 

As we had to march directly under the English can- 
non which kept up a continual fire, the destruction of 
our own men was very great, and Washington called 
out to us: "Men, retreat; it is not worth while to 
sacrifice so many lives." It was now drawing towards 
night, and we retreated as well as we could. I took 
shelter in the woods, and having found a thick grape 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMAKKS. 271 

vine, crept under it, and worn out with hunger and 
fatigue, fell sound asleep. 

The next morning I crawled out of my hiding place, 
and a sense of my forlorn condition covered my mind. 
I knew I had sinned in entering into the war, and no 
man going to execution could have felt more remorse. 
I went along till I came to a little cottage where dwelt 
a Dutch woman. I entered at a venture and begged 
her to give me a little broth, for I had not tasted a 
mouthful of food for two days. She took pity on me 
and gave me some, but I had scarcely done eating it, 
when a party of Hessians came in and took me pris- 
oner. War-worn and weary as I was, they marched 
me before them, beating me most unmercifully with 
the butts of their guns, and occasionally placing their 
bayonets at my breast; they swore they would kill me 
on the spot because I was a rebel. In this trial I ex- 
perienced heavenly Goodness to be near, and again all 
fear of death was taken away. 

They took me to the Hessian general, Count Donop, 
who, after much rough language, ordered me to be put 
under the provost-captain; and, with a number of other 
prisoners of war, I was marched to Philadelphia and 
lodged in prison. 

The number of American prisoners in jail at this 
time was about nine hundred. During the first five 
days of our confinement, most of us had nothing to eat, 
and many died from want. One poor fellow who had 
been, as far as I can remember, five days without food, 
got at last a little piece of dry bread, which he devoured 
greedily, and then leaning his head back, immediately 
expired! 

I had been three days without a mouthful to eat, 
when an aunt of mine got leave to see me. She gave 
me a small quantity of food and then left me, and in a 
day or two after she sent her son with some more; and 
thus, under Providence, saved my life. Ah ! when I 



272 FOOTPRINTS AKU WAYMARKS. 

Lave seen the tables of Friends in Philadelphia loaded 
with all the luxuries of wealth, it seemed as if I could 
weep over them, remembering the days of my famine, 
and fearing that the day of plenty was not enough 
valued. 

While I was thus suffering under this cruel imprison- 
ment, I remembered the impressions of my mind on 
the day of the battle at Brandy wine, and feeling myself 
as a poor worm of the dust, I used to go out every 
evening after dark, into the jail yard, and throw my- 
self prostrate with my face upon the ground, in 
deep abasedness of soul, and supplicate the Lord for 
mercy. 

This sense of my undone condition lasted for a con- 
siderable time, until at length the voice of Divine com- 
passion passed through my mind, that my prayers were 
heard and that I should experience deliverance from 
my troubles. I arose from the ground with gladness 
of heart. 

J. R. was soon after released from prison, and re- 
turned to his father's house in safety. 

Samuel Fay was born nearly sixty years ago, in the 
very heart of Alabama's black belt, not far from Mont- 
gomery. He was a slave, and wore his chains for nearly 
forty years, not being able to read a word or write his 
name. By the time he was old enough to work he had 
taken such a dislike to the cotton field and the over- 
seer that he resolved to hire his time, so having ar- 
ranged with his master, he left home and engaged him- 
self to work in a printing-office. He soon came to be 
pressman and served continuously in the same office 
till he saw that hand-presses were about to give place 
to steam-presses, when he engaged to learn the car- 
penter's trade. As he was obliged to pay full wages to 
his master while learning his trade, he would often 
work all day at the bench and at night work the press. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 273 

and frequently for weeks at a time have not a wink of 
sleep, except as now and then, while the boy fixed the 
rollers, he would bow his head on a pile of paper and 
rest for a moment. Three men are still living in the 
city of Montgomery, who, at different times were con- 
nected with the office in which he worked, and each 
one has told me (says the narrator), before and since 
his death, that he has never seen his equal either in 
powers of endurance or excellence of work. 

He was very anxious to excel as a carpenter, but in 
those days it was not the custom to teach a colored ap- 
prentice much beyond the coarser parts of the trade. 
To overcome this, when dinner-time came he would 
often feign sickness, and lie down on the bench as if to 
rest, but the moment the shop was empty he would 
jump up and proceed to examine the fine work that 
was going on, and often he would take it carefully 
apart, and having seen how it was done, would put it 
together again, and when the workmen returned he 
was, apparently, fast asleep on the bench as if nothing 
had happened in their absence. 

He came to be a master workman, and some of the 
largest and most expensive buildings in Montgomery 
were built by his hands. 

Until the time came when he witnessed a change of 
heart, Samuel Fay was a man of almost ungovernable 
temper. In the days of slavery he was known as a 
" dangerous negro," and every new overseer was warned 
in regard to him. In those times he always went armed 
with some sort of a weapon, and it was a standing vow 
with him to kill any man that attempted to lay hands 
on him, and then be hanged himself and go at once to 
hell. 

In this darkened state Samuel continued until about 

ten years ago, taking no interest in religion, and very 

rarely consenting to accompany his wife and daughter 

to the meeting-house of the Congregationalists, of 

18 



274 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

which denomination they were members. Finally, 
however, with an honest purpose in his heart, he re- 
solved t) go to a certain meeting and give good heed 
to what should be delivered. Under God's blessing 
he was thoroughly reached, and then without delay he 
desired to become a church member. 

Gradually the tendency to excessive anger disap- 
peared, and religion became a real thing with him. He 
said in explanation, "A few years ago I made me up a 
little prayer and I have prayed it every morning since 
then, and though many have wronged me, I have had 
no trouble with any one." It was found tbat this 
prayer was the so-called " Eleventh Commandment," 
"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love 
one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one 
another." It was about the time that he made up or 
made use of his little prayer, that many of his old 
friends were heard to say, u How gentle the ways of 
Sam Fay are becoming." And while he was growing 
in gentleness it also became noticeable how his concern 
for the right order of meeting matters and everything 
pertaining to the interests of the people developed. 
Especially was he the children's friend. He died the 
latter part of last autumn, and, says the narrator, " So 
much had he come to be a part of our best life that, in 
our homes, in the church and on the street, we feel lost 
without him." 

The following interesting narrative shows how our 
Father in heaven made use of a child to awaken her 
mother to a sense of her responsibility. 

"Mother," said Fanny C., a sweet little girl of seven 
years, brushing back her auburn curls, " mother, what 
does this mean ? — ' For our conversation is in heaven.' ' : 

The child had been sitting a full half hour, on the 
cricket at her mother's feet — her bright face bending 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 275 

over her book with that earnest gaze that betokens the 
most intense thought; but she had not, it seemed, en- 
tirely satisfied herself. So she looked up confidingly 
to her mother for information. But she was also ab- 
sorbed in a book and did not heed the gentle child, 
who again repeated more eagerty, " Mother, what does 
this mean ? — ' For our conversation is in heaven.' " 

" What book have you, Fanny ?" asked her mother. 
" Oh ! the Bible." " Well, I am glad you are reading 
it to-day;" (it was First-day) and the conscience-struck 
mother glanced at the " last new novel" in her own 
hand, which she had been devouring. 

" But you have not told me what this means, mother 
— 'For our conversation is in heaven.' " 

" Oh ! it means that we should talk about good 
things, that is, about heaven and the angels; and read 
the Bible," said her mother. 

" You know when the ladies were here at your party, 
mother ?"' 

" Yes, my love." 

" Was their conversation in heaven ?" 

" I fear not, my child. But why do you ask?" 

"I have been thinking," said the little girl, drawing 
a long breath, as though her thoughts had been com- 
pressed with much difficulty — " I have been thinking 
that people must speak very loud to have their conver- 
sation in heaven, and I wanted to know if that was the 
reason which made the ladies at your party talk so 
loud." 

Her mother could not forbear smiling at the idea of 
such nonsense as usually comprises the conversation of 
a fashionable party, being heard in heaven; yet she 
keenly felt the rebuke of the innocent child, while she 
endeavored to answer carelessly — " We do not talk 
about heaven at our parties, Fanny." 

" But when is your conversation in heaven, mother ?" 
persisted the little girl. 



276 FOOTPRINTS AND WATMARKS. 

The question was a simple one, but her poor mother 
was more troubled to answer it than she would have 
been to discuss the effects of gravitation or the proper- 
ties of light. She bent her lips to the cheek of her 
lovely daughter, and a tear mingled with a kiss, as she 
thought how this world had engrossed her heart and 
soul, her time and her talents ; and how neglectful she 
had been of the moral and religious training of her 
precious child. "And now she is teaching me," thought 
the mother. 

G. F. Pentecost relates a very interesting instance of 
the work of Divine grace, as told to him when in Scot- 
land, by a minister who said he could vouch for its 
truthfulness in every particular. His narrative is as 
follows : 

Madam M. was the daughter of a very distinguished 
and wealthy French family. When .she was quite 
young, about twenty, I believe, she was married to a 
3-oung man of equal wealth and high social position. 
As was common, these young people were worldly and 
gay, given to everthing going on in the fashionable 
world, and had nothing to do but to amuse themselves 
and gratify every whim which an idle fancy suggested. 
Of course, they were destitute of spiritual knowledge 
of God and Christ, though, in their way, devout enough 
Roman Catholics ; that is, they attended church, and 
went through all the necessary ceremonials of Rome to 
secure to them the approval of " Mother Church." 

Shortly after their marriage they went one night to 
the theatre, and witnessed a play in which, in one of 
the scenes there was enacted the slaughter of the Hu- 
guenots. The scene was so vivid and life-like that it 
greatly distressed the mind of the lady. She asked her 
husband, with bated breath and strained eyes, what it 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 277 

meant. The reply was, " It is a representation of the 
billing of the Huguenots." 

" Why were they killed ?" asked the young wife. 

" Oh, they were killed for their heretical religion !" 

"And was it for no other reason than for their reli- 
gion ?" 

" For no other reason. They were heretics." 

"And who had them killed ?" 

" Why, I suppose it was done by order of the Church. 
They were heretics /" 

"And did our holy Church have these poor people 
massacred for no other reason than for believing Jesus 
■Christ could save them without the help of the Church?" 

" For no other reason, so far as I know," was the re- 
ply. " They were not criminals, but heretics." 

And as far as he was able to do so, the young hus- 
band related the story of the massacre, without either 
justifying or condemning it — speaking of it rather as 
a matter of course. 

This scene and the story of the slaughter of the Hu- 
guenots, with which she had not been familiar, so 
wrought upon the young wife that she begged her hus- 
band to take her home. For days she could not shake 
oiFthe impression of that scene and story. It continued 
to prey upon her mind until she fell into a deep state 
of melancholy and profound conviction of sin. There 
was none to help or instruct her, and she was as utterly 
ignorant of the Bible as she was destitute of the pos- 
session of one. The husband became so distressed and 
alarmed at his wife's condition that he called in medi- 
cal advice. After hearing from the husband the occa- 
sion of his wife's mental distress, and from the lady 
herself the story of her horror, — " that these poor peo- 
ple should be killed for their religion," — and being 
plied by her with questions concerning religion which 
lie was utterly unable to answer, the physician with- 
drew and reported the case to the husband. 



278 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

" It is a case of religious monomania — a very bad 
one. You must act at once and promptly, or your wife 
will fall into hopeless melancholia, and perhaps end in 
permanent insanity. You must take her about. Go 
to concerts, to balls, to parties — travel. Do anything and 
everything that will divert her mind from the terrible 
subject that possesses her." 

Acting upon his advice, the husband began a round 
of pleasure and fashionable dissipation such as even 
they had never before indulged in. 

Night after night they were out at the theatre, at 
balls, at concerts, and entertainments; the wife going 
reluctantly but obediently. One night they were at a 
grand ball in Paris. They had entered the spacious 
hotel, and were passing through a long and brilliantly 
lighted corridor, lined with lackeys, and leading to- 
ward a broad flight of stairs up to the salon where the 
guests were assembled. Of a sudden, like an appari- 
tion, there darted out before them, from some side door, 
a little man dressed in black, and apparently a clergy- 
man, though not a priest. 

This little man stepped up to the lady, and, without 
a word of introduction or apology for speaking, said, 
" Madam, do you know the blood of Jesus Christ, God's 
Son, cleanseth from all sin ?" 

To this startling and unheard-of proclamation the 
lady replied, "What did you say? Will you repeat 
those words ?'* 

At which the little man in black again declared, 
without note or comment, but with intense eagerness 
and pathos, " The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, 
cleanseth from all sin,''* and then disappeared as sud- 
denly as he had appeared. 

The lady stood still for a moment, dumbfounded, and 
then remarked to her husband. "Did you ever hear 
that before ? That is the most extraordinary statement 
I ever heard. What can it mean V 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 279 

But as she mused on these words, and climbed the 
broad and lofty stairway, there fell upon her a peace so 
sweet and ecstatic that her whole face seemed lighted 
up with an unearthly gladness. 

She went at once into the crowded salon, and ap- 
proaching the first lady whom she saw, she said to her, 
"I have just heard the most extraordinary statement. 
I wonder if you ever heard it, and what does it mean : 
' The blood of Jesus Christ, G-ocl's Son, cleanseth us 
from all sin V " 

As might have been expected, the lady to whom this 
inquiry was addressed was amazed; and the amaze- 
ment spread through the salon as Madam M. passed 
from one to another, repeating her question, and ask- 
ing if any one could tell her what it meant. Of course, 
in a few minutes the word was whispered from lip to 
ear, " Madam M. has gone mad." But, like Paul, she 
was not mad, only filled with the gladness of God's 
blessed peace. 

Noting the excited (or what seemed to him the ex- 
cited) state of mind in which his wife had been thrown 
by the apparition of the little man in black, with his 
singular declaration, and the real excitement into which 
she was throwing the fashionable people in the salon 
by her continuous inquiry of every one whom she met 
concerning " the blood of Jesus Christ," her husband 
took her home. For days she simply dwelt in a para- 
dise of joy, repeating over and over again the words, 
" The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from 
all sin." Her depression, her so-called religious mono- 
mania, her deep melancholia, was gone; and, instead, 
an ecstacy of gladness had taken its place. 

She told everybody about the house, her servants, 
and beyond the house, her neighbors, of this "precious 
blood." She found out, finally, where the saying came 
from. For the first time she got hold of a Bible, and 
coon devouring the New Testament, she learned the 



280 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

whole glad truth. Her joy was not for a day or a week, 
but continued until her husband, again alarmed, sent 
for his medical adviser, the same who had seen her 
some months before. He had another interview with 
her, and was treated to the Gospel of Christ and a re- 
lation of her joy and peace in believing. 

The medical man returned to report to the husband, 
and, with a grave shake of the head, declared. " It is 
the same thing — religious monomania. It is a very bad 
case. It has changed its type, taken on another form. 
Before she was depressed; now she is ecstatic. I am 
afraid it has readied an acute stage. You must watch 
her very closely, and do everything you can to divert 
her mind." 

And so the wise fool departed. But the joy did not 
leave Madam M. It continued, and became the inspira- 
tion of a new life to her and to all about her. The Bible 
was now her daily companion, and she became a sweet 
witness for Jesus. Again and again she besought her 
husband to receive Jesus as his Saviour. 

Some months after, her husband gave a dinnerparty 
to a number of artists, wits, and literati of Paris. At 
the table the conversation turned on religion, which 
was ridiculed as superstition : and presently blasphe- 
mous and ridiculing sneers were levelled at Jesus Christ 
and the Bible. 

After the ribald conversation had gone on for a few 
moments, the host. Mr. M., arose at the head of the 
table, and said, " Gentleman, I cannot have the name 
and religion of Jesus Christ taken in vain and made 
the subject of ridicule at my table. Jesus Christ is the 
Son of God, and our Saviour, and his blood cleanseth 
from all sin." 

The effect of this speech may be more easily imag- 
ined than described. Mr. M. had never before articu- 
lated his faith, and his happy wife for the first time 






FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 281 

now knew that her testimony and her life of peace had 
been blessed of God to his soul also. 

This lady lived on for sixty years, dying only a few 
months ago. She never ceased to carry her joy and 
testimony wherever she went. 

The singular thing about the whole matter is the 
sudden appearance of the little man in black, in the 
great house on the night of a grand ball, and his ap- 
parently mad approach into the ball-room. The ex- 
planation is simply this. He was a Protestant clergy- 
man, who had some occasion to visit the master of the 
house that night on business, and as he was about to 
leave he was seized Avith an irresistible impulse to rush 
into the corridor and tell the first person he met that 
" The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from 
all sin." Not knowing why he was so strangely led, 
and himself partly terrified at what he did, not know- 
ing Madam M., or having ever heard of her, or of the 
deep conviction of sin under which she had been labor- 
ing for some months, he saw in her only the first per- 
son he met ; and delivering his message, he rushed from 
the house, not knowing the result of his action until 
months afterward. 

Who shall say that God the Holy Spirit, who took 
Philip from Samaria to declare Jesus to the eunuch, is 
still not doing these wonders of grace ? God has not 
forgotten to be gracious, and the Spirit of God " has 
not ceased to convince men of sin, of righteousness, 
and of judgment;" nor to take extraordinary means to 
lead souls to God through Christ, when extraordinary 
means of grace are necessary. 

Among the instrumental means which the Almighty 
has made use of to awaken the sinner to serious reflec- 
tion on his situation, an interesting one is related by 
Audubon in his Ornithological Biography. In speak- 
ing of the Zenaida dove, he says : — 



282 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

A man who was once a pirate assured me, that 
several times, while at certain wells dug in the burning 
shelly sands of the well-known Key, which must be 
here nameless, the soft and melancholy cry of the doves 
awoke in his breast feelings that had long slumbered, 
melted his heart to repentance, and caused him to 
linger at the spot in a state of mind, which he only who 
compares the wretchedness of guilt with the happiness 
of former innocence, can truly feel. He said he never 
left the place without increased fears of futurity, asso- 
ciated as he was, although I believe by force, with a 
band of the most desperate villians that ever annoyed 
the Florida coast. So deeply moved was he by the 
notes of any bird, and especially by those of a dove, 
the only soothing sounds he ever heard during his life 
of horrors, that through these plaintive notes, he was 
induced to escape from his vessel, abandon his turbu- 
lent companions, and return to a family deploring his 
absence. 

After paying a parting visit to those wells, and listen- 
ing once more to the cooings of the Zenaida dove, he 
poured out his soul in humble supplication for mercy, 
and once more became what one has said to be " the 
noblest work of God," an honest man. His escape was 
effected amidst difficulties and dangers ; but no danger 
seemed to him comparable with the danger of one 
living in the violation of human and Divine laws; and 
now he lives in peace in the midst of all his friends. 

Captain Mitchell K. was from early life accustomed 
to the sea. He commanded a merchant ship that sailed 
from Philadelphia. After his marriage, he again went 
to sea, and one day committed to writing, while in a 
highly devotional frame of mind, a prayer for the tem- 
poral and eternal happiness of his beloved wife and 
unborn babe. Tins prayer, nearly filling a sheet of 
paper, was deposited, with his other writings, at the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 283 

bottom of an old oak chest. The captain died before 
the completion of the voyage, in the year 1757, and his 
instruments, papers, &c, were returned to his wife. 
Finding they were generally what she could not under- 
stand, she locked up the chest for the inspection and 
use of her babe (who proved to be a son), at some 
future period. At eighteen, this son entered the army, 
and in 1775 marched for Boston. He gave the reins 
to his lusts, and for many years yielded to almost every 
temptation to sin. At last, he was called to the death- 
bed of his mother, who gave him the key of his father's 
chest, which, however, he did not open, lest he should 
meet with something of a religious kind, that would 
reprove his sins and harass his feelings. At length in 
1814, when in his fifty-sixth year, he determined to 
examine its contents. When he reached the bottom, 
he discovered a paper neatly folded and endorsed — 
"The prayer of Mitchell K. for blessings on his wife 
and child, August 23, 1757." As he read it, the scene, 
the time, the place and circumstances under which it 
was written and put there, all rushed upon his mind, 
and overwhelmed him; for often had his widowed 
mother led him to the beach, and pointed to him the 
direction on the horizon, where she had traced the last 
glimpse of flowing canvas that bore his father from her, 
never to return. He threw the contents back into the 
chest, folded up the prayer, and put it in the case with 
his father's quadrant, locked up the chest, and deter- 
mined never again to unlock it. But his father's 
prayer still haunted his imagination, and he could not 
forget it. From that time he became an altered man, 
and lived and died as a Christian. 

William Tennent once took much pains to prepare a 
sermon to convince an infidel of the truth of Christi- 
anity. But, in attempting to deliver this labored dis- 
course, he was so confused as to be compelled to stop. 



284 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

This unexpected failure in one who had "been admired 
for the force of his eloquence, led his infidel auditor to 
believe that he must at other times have been aided by 
a Divine power. This reflection proved a means of his 
conversion. Tennent afterwards used to say, that his 
dumb sermon was one of the most profitable sermons he 
had ever delivered. 

An anecdote was introduced by the late Xathan Kite, 
into one of the many articles he wrote for The Friend, 
of a sailor whom the captain of a ship found, in time 
of a storm, on his knees below decks, repeating pray- 
ers. The captain roughly shook him with the admo- 
nition, u Say your prayers in fair weather." On arriving 
at port, he left the vessel, but these words of the cap- 
tain abode so constantly with him that he was led to 
consider his manner of life, and seek for help from the 
source of all blessings, and ultimately became a preacher 
of the religion he had once practically despised. The 
captain in the meantime continued to lead a careless 
and unconcerned life ; and a few years after, being on 
land, was persuaded by a friend to visit a place of wor- 
ship, where his former worthless sailor was now offici- 
ating as a minister, although he knew it not. In the 
course of the services, the preacher recognized his 
former captain, and with a loud voice uttered the com- 
mand which had so deeply impressed him — "Say your 
prayers in fair weather." He then related the circum- 
stances which had led to its first utterance, the effect it 
had had on him, and the desire he felt, that it might 
prove profitable to others. The events of that day are 
said to have made it a turning point in the life of the 
captain also. 

In the Journal of David Sands a letter is inserted, 
which he received from one whom the Spirit of Christ 
had reached through his ministerial labors. The writer 
of the letter says : — 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 285 

I was a poor benighted traveller, wandering in dark- 
ness and doubt; often querying with myself, who is 
Jesus of Nazareth, whom they call Saviour and Re- 
deemer? I have never known Him, or seen his works, 
though it is said He wrought miracles, raised the dead, 
and even gave up his life for the redemption of sinners. 
I heard and read all this, but still queried, — Is it not a 
fable? What have I to do with Him? His blood, if it 
was shed, is nothing to me. I was, like Paul, a perse- 
cutor. I cried peace, while peace was a stranger to my 
heart; I wandered up and down the earth in search of 
rest to my weary soul ; in the bright allurements of 
folly I believed I should find it; but like a phantom, 
when near, it eluded my grasp. Thus I passed my 
days in seeking pleasure, my nights in mourning; and 
while my Heavenly Father was striving with me, and 
knocking gently at the door of my heart; though I was 
ready at times to cry out with anguish, I still rejected 
Him, saying, as it were, "Go thy way for this time, at 
a more convenient season I will send for thee." 

While wondering which way to turn my steps, I 
heard that some people called Quakers, had arrived in 
our village, and were going to have a meeting in the 
school-house that evening. I had heard that yours were 
a self-denying people; singular in dress and address; 
and I determined to go, being more prepared to receive 
amusement than instruction; in truth, I tried to be an 
unbeliever in the things of God, and of his heavenly 
kingdom. When I entered the house, I was struck 
with the awful solemnity that overshadowed you. It 
were vain to attempt to describe my feelings, while we 
sat in this solemn silence. It seemed as though my 
poor tempest-tossed spirit would have burst its con- 
fines, and deserted its earthly tenement. While in this 
state of conflict you arose, and commenced with those 
ever-memorable words: "Come unto me, all ye who 
are weary and heavy laden ; take my yoke upon you, 



286 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

for it is easy, and my burden, for it is light.*' Oh! 
that blessed invitation of our dear Redeemer unveiled 
the darkness, and I could see, as in a glass, the very 
depths of my soul, and was ready to cry out, "Lord, be 
merciful to me a sinner." ^ever shall I forget the 
sweet words of hope, which flowed from your tongue, 
words of eternal life; your countenance became radiant 
with the theme of the goodness and glory of the 
Almighty God and Father, who gave his dear Son, 
that through Him we might be saved. Oh ! how soon 
the glimmering of hope dispelled the darkness of infi- 
delity ! I felt the invitation was to me, and most joy- 
fully accepted it, for I was indeed weary and heavy 
laden, ancl longed for rest. I returned home, my heart 
tilled with praises to God ; the image of my suffering 
Saviour was before me, and I felt I could suffer and die 
for his precious sake." 

In a letter to his wife, written from Ireland in 1798, 
when that country was agitated by civil war, David 
Sands mentions the following interesting: case of one 
who became convinced of the peaceable nature of the 
kingdom of Christ. The letter says : — 

Some convincement has appeared in the course of 
my late journey, and that amongst the men mighty in 
war. A person who had long approved himself one 
of the most fearless and undaunted, and an officer of 
no inferior rank, having sat with us in several meetings 
which I had in a town that had been besieged, and 
many lives lost, and from which the clergy had fled, 
invited me to his house to breakfast, which I felt easy 
to accept. After it was over, I had a religious oppor- 
tunity with himself and his family. He was much 
tendered and reached, as he had been in meeting before. 
He arose, and stripped off' his military clothes, and lay- 
ing by his sword, asked for some other garments, say- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 287 

ingto his wife and children, " I shall never fight more, 
for I am convinced it is not in accordance with the 
Spirit of Christ. I am a Quaker." Since this, he ap- 
pears very solid, and I hope he will make a valiant man 
in the cause of Christ. 

In the course of one of David Sands' early journeys 
in the work of the ministry, he arrived at a town or 
village where the Society of Friends or their principles 
were unknown. He put up at an inn where was to be 
a large ball or assembly that evening. 

Being their custom, on such occasions, to invite 
strangers who might happen to be there, to join them ; 
and his appearance being new to them, and very singu- 
lar, they invited him to attend. He accepted the invi- 
tation, and after they were all assembled, and their 
mirth and music commenced, he walked into the midst 
of them. His solemn and impressive demeanor struck 
the company with awe ; the music and dancing ceased, 
and they all stood in silent amazement, waiting the 
result; when he commenced addressing them to the 
following import — 

My friends, for what purpose is this gay company 
assembled ? Is it to worship Almighty God ; Him from 
whom all your favors and blessings flow ; who, in his 
love and compassion, gave the dear Son of his bosom 
as a ransom, that through Him you might have eternal 
life ? Or have you rather suffered yourselves to be led 
captive by the enemy of your souls' peace, who, for a 
season, may hold out bright and pleasant allurements 
to tempt your unwary feet to stray from the true fold 
of peace, revealed in and through Christ Jesus your 
Saviour and Redeemer; He who suffered his precious 
blood to flow to wash away your sins? Oh! be per- 



288 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

suaded by a brother who loves you with that love 
which flows from the Fountain of all good, to turn 
from these follies and devices of satan, which will lead 
you astray. Oh ! be persuaded, I say, to seek the Lord 
whilst He may be found, turn to Him and He will turn 
unto you ; knock, before the door of mercy is eternally 
closed, and He will receive you and encompass you 
with unbounded love, and lead you gently into pleasant 
places, even into the kingdom of heaven, where you 
will rejoice for evermore; singing praises unto the 
Lamb. Yea, He will be unto you as a shield and 
buckler ; and as your strong defence in times of trouble. 
Suffer Him not to stand knocking at the door of your 
hearts until " his head shall become wet with the dew, 
and his locks with the drops of the night." 

Thus did he continue to address them until the power 
of the Most High was so made manifest among them, 
that they listened to his communication with deep 
interest; and, as some of them afterwards expressed, 
he appeared as a messenger from heaven, sent to warn 
them of their danger. Many of them were brought to 
tears whilst he was speaking ; and after he concluded, 
acknowledged, with gratitude, their sense of his solici- 
tude for their welfare; saying, "We have heard this 
night what we never can forget." After taking a ten- 
der leave of them, they separated, almost forgetful of 
the cause for which they had assembled. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 289' 



CHAPTER V. 

EFFECTS OF REGENERA TION. 

Christian Eddy— S. Grellet— W. Evans — G. Fox— Preaching by- 
faith — A view of religious services — Perils— Edward Wright — 
" He first loved us" — Subdued by kindness — Helping others — 
Dorothea L. Dix — Abram Simmons — Cyrus Butler — Thomas 
Blagden— Dr. Pinel— William Tuke. 

The wonderful change in character which results 
from coming fully under the transforming influence of 
the Spirit of Christ, our Saviour speaks of as being 
born again — a process which He declares must be expe- 
rienced by all who would become partakers of his heav- 
enly kingdom. In this state man is no longer governed 
by his own selfish impulses, but being leavened with 
the loving Spirit of Christ, he is led to seek the welfare 
of others, to lay aside all malice, to be holy in all man- 
ner of conversation, not to render evil for evil, but to 
love as brethren, to be pitiful and courteous. Under 
the power of this Divine love many have been made 
willing to devote their lives to the promotion of the 
material and spiritual welfare of their fellow-men. An 
interesting illustration of this is furnished by the his- 
tory of Christian Eddy, a native of Cornwall, England. 
Her biographer says : 

At the age of seventeen the girl sustained the heavi- 
est loss that could befall her, the loss of a good mother, 
who, in dying, committed her children tothe care and 
love of her Saviour. 

Christian Eddy left home early, but was driven back 
by illness. Her stepmother watched the sick bed of the 

13 



290 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

invalid, and, better still, watched for her soul as one 
who must give account. Another, a heavenly watcher, 
was also keeping guard over the sufferer ; and she rose 
from her illness a new being. Henceforth to her " to 
live" was " Christ." 

Consistency is the rock that re-echoes every prayer, 
the hammer that drives horfce every nail, the feather 
that wings every arrow. One felt it to be so with her ; 
and some of her converts owe their spiritual life, under 
God, to this alone. Years before she left service her 
mistress said, " She has been a bright lamp in my house 
these eleven years ;" and a fellow-servant testifies, " I 
went into the family saying, ' such cheerful, consistent 
piety cannot last.' I watched her closely for six 
months, and she was always the same. So then I be- 
gan to think there was something in religion. I sought 
Jesus, and she helped me to find him, nor has she been 
different all these fifteen years." 

But she was not satisfied with the silent rebuke her 
life gave to sin, and the silent testimony her character 
bore to Christ. ~No miser ever coveted gold as she 
coveted souls. To seek them she was " instant in sea- 
son and out of season." When sent to the post, she 
would take care to have some little remembrancers of 
Jesus, which without loss of time she might leave by 
the way. Tracts, little books and penny Gospels were 
always at hand. One, whom we knew, dated his first 
serious conviction to the day she met him, a stranger, 
and gave him one of the Gospels. " What could have 
put it into her mind to give me this ?" was his remark 
to his child, with which began a train of thought which 
ended in his conversion. 

Years ago, in London, God put it in her heart to 
visit one of the worst lanes in the metropolis. A po- 
liceman remonstrated with her. " It is not safe," he 
said, " we never go down there, except two at a time." 
" But Jesus is with me," she replied; and she went, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 291 

and He was with her, and gave her favor amongst the 
people, and every one received her gift or word. 

But " the disciple" is not to be above " the Master;" 
loving appeals will sometimes be met by refusals and 
resistance. Once, when going about doing good, she 
was struck down. Instantly bystanders rushed upon 
the assailant, and would have taken him before a mag- 
istrate. " You must let him go," she said. " But he 
hit you !" "Yes, he did; but you must let him go." 
" But he struck you to the ground !" " Still you must 
let him go, I am sure Jesus would." And so her meek- 
ness was as rare as her energy, and had the stamp of 
the same mint, the ring of the coinage of Christ. 

Her courage has come out in some of the cases I 
have mentioned. Let me give another instance. In 
the next street to where she lived there was a shoe- 
maker, a tall, athletic man, who stood six feet two, and 
could walk forty miles at a stretch. He was the terror 
of many, and hated religion with a terrible hatred. 
The devoted clergyman of the district tried to influence 
him, but in vain. A missionary, a friend of our friend, 
went, but came back shaking with terror. She began 
to go herself ten years ago or more. " How did you 
And him to-day ?" they would ask, when she came back 
out of the lion's den. "Don't ask me how I found 
him," she would reply; "I leave all that to Jesus." 
She confessed, however, that she expected every mo- 
ment to feel his huge stick, especially one day, when 
she dropped on her knees and prayed for him in his 
presence. The brave heart was kept up by its faith. 
Here were the hidings of its power, the assurance that 
God would bless his word. "How I love the spot!" 
she said once, as she passed the window; " what joy it 
will be when I have him with me in glory !" And this 
while his fury still raged. For nine years she visited 
him without apparent result; but at the end of that 
time he was stricken with illness. She begged to be 



292 F00TPH1XTS AND WAYMARKS. 

allowed to see him, and was permitted, on condition 
that she would neither speak to him nor pray for him 
aloud. Three times the silent visitor went, and watched 
and prayed. In spite of the silence he had enforced on 
her he had looked for her visits, he told her afterwards. 
"The clergyman has given me up, the missionary has 
given me up, and now she has given me up, and I shall 
he lost." Say, but she had not given him up, nor had 
God either. On the third visit the shoemaker held 
out his hand. The ice was broken, and the waters be- 
gan to flow. The soul was opened to the Saviour ; the 
man lived for a time to Him, and then died to Him, 
and now may have welcomed his benefactress into 
everlasting habitations. 

Her decision of character was shown as much in her 
faithful remonstrance with what she believed to be 
error, as in her steadfastness in seeking those who were 
known to be lost. Once she wandered into a ritualistic 
place of worship, and entering into conversation with 
some of the sisterhood, she pointed them from images 
of saints to a living Saviour. At that moment the 
priest came up. Unabashed, instead of ceasing her 
testimony, she turned to him, and with admirable tact 
enlisted him, as it were, on her side by saying, as she 
quoted the book he was bound to acknowledge, " Is it 
not so, dear sir?" "I am afraid you do not reverence 
the Virgin Mother," he answered-, parrying the shaft. 
" 1 love her as a blood-bought sister," was the compre- 
hensive reply. 

But all this holy effort could not go on for ever. 
" The spirit, indeed," was " willing, but the flesh" was 
" weak." Disease manifested itself, though no one 
knew the severe suffering it occasioned, or dreamt that 
it would soon put a period to her beneficent labors. Xo 
one but herself. She, it now appears, felt that kt the 
little while" was for her becoming very short indeed. 
"When they spoke of getting ready for any meal, " I 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS 293 

hope we shall be ready for Jesus," she would often say. 
"Next [Fourth-day], if not in glory," was her weekly 
farewell to one dear friend ; " I cannot be here always 
to help you," her frequent warning to another. Still 
they could not, would not, heed it. How should they, 
when, after a day of enforced confinement to her 
bed, she would come down as if nothing were the 
matter, bonneted, and smiling as she said, " I hope we 
shall do some work for Jesus to-night !" So late as 
[Fifth-day, Fourth Month], 18th, 1872, she toiled up 
the long weary hill that leads to the workhouse. It 
was the last time. It was noticed that her frame was 
suffering and her steps were slow. That day fortnight 
she was carried within sight of the same spot, to be 
laid in her grave. 

By [Seventh-day] the symptoms had become violent, 
and it was said she was to go to the hospital for an 
operation, an operation which it was hinted might be 
fatal. " Do you hear that?" she said, turning to her 
dear, kind friend. " Yes, they say you are very ill." 
" They say I may never get well again ; and won't it 
be beautiful to burst forth in glory ?" Then, seeing her 
friend in tears, "Don't be troubled," she said; "you 
will spare me for Jesus; you won't grudge my going 
to glory?" " No bride," says the same close observer, 
" wedded to a lord, ever went off so happily for her 
honeymoon as she went to the hospital." 

The way in which she gloried in tribulation was the 
wonder of the patients, the nurses and the doctors. As 
they carried her to the operating room, they expressed 
surprise at her jubilant joy. " It is not me," she said, 
" it's Jesus." The secret of that supernatural joy in- 
deed could never be self, it could only be the Saviour. 

When asked a day or two after by a friend how she 
had felt when the hour of suffering came. "I felt," 
she said, " as if in the glory. And now Jesus is so 
precious, so precious." "And her face brightened as 



294 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

she spoke, like unto the face of an angel," said my in- 
formant. To another visitor she said, " I'm so happy, 
so happy, so happy !" and she repeated it three times 
with eyes upraised to heaven. And then, " the ruling 
passion strong in death," she added in tones lowered to 
a whisper, " Jesus has found a little work for me to do 
here. I've given away all my Gospels." " Here is one 
more for you then," said the friend, handing her the 
only one in his pocket. " Read a little," she replied ; 
and he read, " In my Father's house are many man- 
sions." Before twenty-four hours she had entered one 
of them. She walked through the valley of death, but 
feared no evil ; his rod and his staff they comforted 
her. To her " to live was Christ," and therefore " to 
die was gain." 

One of the many ways in which the Lord employs 
his servants in helping others, is by the exercise of 
Gospel ministry. 

The Memoirs of Stephen Grellet furnish instructive 
illustrations of the preparation passed through by those 
on whom the Lord designs conferring a gift in the 
Ministry, of the heavenly power which qualifies for its 
exercise, and of the manner in which the messenger 
of glad tidings is often directed, without that outward 
knowledge which might be supposed necessary to guide 
him. 

At the time when S. Grellet felt that he was to be 
called of the Lord into this service, there was much to 
discourage him. In speaking of the feelings in the 
prospect, he says : 

I saw my unworthiness to engage in such a solemn 
service, and felt myself to be altogether a child, that 
was only beginning to breathe the breath of life. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 295 

Though I had made some progress in the knowledge 
of the English language, I knew how defective I was, 
and especially unqualified to act as an ambassador for 
Christ, in the congregations of the people. How great 
was the Divine condescension in those days of my deep 
probation ! As a father answereth his child, so the 
Lord condescended to answer all my pleadings and 
excuses ; to give me also a sense of the source from 
whence all power, strength and ability flow. He showed 
me how He is mOuth, wisdom and utterance, to his 
true and faithful ministers ; that it is from Him alone 
that they are to receive the subject they are to commu- 
nicate to the people, and also the when and the how. 
It is He who giveth the seeing eye, the hearing ear, 
the understanding heart, and enableth the dumb to 
speak. 

In the Third Month of 1798, he was recorded as a 
minister of the Gospel, by the Monthly Meeting for the 
Northern District of Philadelphia, of which he was then 
a member. 

In the summer of that year, the yellow fever was 
fatally epidemic in Philadelphia. At the time Stephen 
Grellet was engaged in religious service at Cape May, 
Egg Harbor, &c. Here he received a remarkable pre- 
monition of what he would be called upon to pass 
through, which he relates as follows : — 

A few days after I heard of the appearance of the 
fever, while I was yet in Jersey, as I was sitting in a 
room, with my mind retired before the Lord, I was 
seized with a terrible pain in my back, head and bones, 
accompanied with a great shaking ; but my mind con- 
tinued perfectly calm in the Lord's presence. After 
having remained some time in that state, considering 
why it was so with me, a secret language was pro- 
claimed : " This is the manner in which those who are 



296 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

seized with the yellow fever are affected ; thou must 
return to the city, and attend on the sick; and thus 
also shall the disease take hold of thee," or words very 
similar. My spirit bowed in prostration before the 
Lord, and said, " Thy will be done." Then I felt again 
free from pain, I proceeded immediately to Philadel- 
phia, keeping these things, however, to myself. 

I went about for some time, visiting the sick and 
dying, and assisting in burying the dead. My friend 
E. G. w T as a faithful colleague in this solemn work, 
which, however awful and gloomy, was yet attended 
with much peacefulness. 

On the evening of the twenty-fifth of the Eighth 
Month, having been engaged that day, in providing for 
about ten Lascars (East Indiamen), discharged from 
a ship, and left destitute, without friends in a deserted 
city, and also with some of my dear friends who were 
ill with the fever, as I was in my chamber, exercised 
before the Lord on account of the sick, some of w ? hom 
were near their end, and actually dying at that very 
time; about eleven at night, just as I had laid down, my 
spirit being gathered in the Lord's presence, I felt my- 
self seized with the same kind of pains I had upon me 
when in New Jersey, and the language was heard : 
" This is what I told thee thou must prepare for." My 
soul was, as it were, swallowed up in the love of God, 
and perfectly contented in the will of the Lord, though 
I did not see the end of this dispensation. After re- 
maining about an hour in that state, feeling 1113' strength 
fast declining, and being alone in the house, I w^ent 
down stairs to unlock the front door. Had I deferred 
this a little longer, it is probable that I should not have 
had sufficient strength to do it, for it was with difficulty 
that I went up stairs again. My friend E. G., not see- 
ing me the next day at the usual time, came to the 
house. He soon brought me a physician and a nurse. 
The former paid me but a few visits: for he took the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS- 297 

fever, and died five days after. The disorder so in- 
creased upon me that, ray extremities having become 
cold, my coifin was ordered, and I was even returned 
among the daily deaths to the board of health, as a 
" French Quaker." But my dear Master had some 
further work for me to do, before I could be prepared 
to enter his Divine rest. 

During the whole of that sickness I continued entirely 
sensible, and whilst death seemed to be approaching, 
and I had turned myself on one side, the more easily, 
as I thought, to breathe my last, my spirit feeling 
already encircled by the angelic host in the Heavenly 
Presence, a secret but powerful language was proclaimed 
on this wise : " Thou shalt not die, but live — thy work 
is not yet clone." Then the corners of the earth, over 
seas and lands, were opened to me, where I should 
have to labor in the service of the Gospel of Christ. 
O what amazement I was filled with ! What a solemn 
and awful prospect was set before me ! Sorrow took 
hold of me at the words ; for it seemed as if I had 
already a foot-hold in the Heavenly places. I wept 
sore; but as it was the divine will, I bowed in rever- 
ence before Him, interceding that, after I had, by his 
assistance, been enabled to do the work He had for me 
to do, and the end of my days in this probationary 
state had fully come, I might be permitted to be 
placed in the same state in which I then was, pass 
through the valley and shadow of death, strengthened 
by his Divine presence, and enter finally into those 
glorious mansions, at the threshold of which my spirit 
had then come. I saw and felt that which cannot be 
written. Suffice it to say, that from that very time 
the disorder subsided. 

In the year 1800, as Stephen Grellet was returning 
from a religious visit in the Southern States, he relates 



298 FOOTPRINTS AND WATMARKS. 

that on the eighth of Ninth Month, he reached Chi- 
chester in Pennsylvania. 

There I was permitted hy my "blessed Master, who 
knoweth what is good and necessary for my purifica- 
tion, to be introduced into very deep baptisms, — the 
depth of the anguish that came upon me ! No past ex- 
perience of the Lord's redeeming love and power was 
able to administer to my distress. I was plunged into 
a state of doubting, and even of unbelief in the mercy 
of God through Jesus Christ; a dark spirit, on which 
account I have at times so bitterly suffered for those 
who have been carried away by it. I continued in 
such a state for some days, that I could not travel. It 
would indeed have been presumption to go forth as an 
ambassador for Christ, while I was tempted to doubt 
his eternal Divinity and God-head, his meritorious 
sacrifice for the sins of the world, even to let go the 
hold of my hope in Him, through whom is the atone- 
ment, through faith in whom alone remission of sins 
is to be obtained. O the workings and subtlety of this 
spirit of unbelief! For ever and ever blessed be the 
Lord, who, after days and nights of fiery conflict, was 
pleased to lift up again the light of his countenance 
upon me, and at the brightness thereof, darkness fled 
apace. never have I beheld the excellency of the 
Gospel of Christ, with more ravishing beauty than I did 
then. The same light which gave me to see the trans- 
forming power of Satan and his temptations, showed 
me also the Lord of Glory, even Him who has been 
delivered for our offences, and raised again for our 
justification; who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life: 
without whom none can eome to the Father. 

Whilst wondering why such an exercise should come 
upon me, I saw I must be prepared to feel for, and 
enter into, the states of those that are thus variously 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 299 

tempted, through the subtleties and stratagems of 
satan. 

In the Epistle to the Hebrews it is said of our blessed 
Redeemer, " In that He himself hath suffered being 
tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted." 
And it is neither marvellous nor unusual that his ser- 
vants should pass through similar dispensations to tit 
them to sympathize with, and wisely to labor with those 
under temptations of various kinds. 

Our late valued friend, William Evans, mentions in 
his Journal, that before he reached the age of man- 
hood, at a time when the sensible influences of the 
blessed Spirit were withdrawn. 

The enemy took advantage of this bereaved con- 
dition, and started the doubt whether Jesus Christ was 
my Saviour. I remembered that He had declared: 
"My sheep hear my voice and they follow me;" and 
then I began to doubt whether I was one of his sheep ; 
for satan insinuated that I had never heard his voice. 
This was a new trial ; but when I was so clouded that 
I could not be certain I had really heard the voice of 
the true Shepherd, then the devil raised the doubt, 
whether Jesus Christ was the Son of God; and with- 
out having done anything that I knew of, to bring 
myself into this state, I found I was incapable of really 
believing in the Saviour of the world. I felt no dispo- 
sition to deny or to reject Him, but I could not com- 
mand that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which I had 
heretofore, as I once thought, possessed. Great dis- 
tress and anxiety came upon me. Unwilling to lose 
my faith, I searched the Holy Scriptures, and diligently 
read various religious works which I hoped w T ould 
restore the lost pearl ; but it was all in vain. I was 



300 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

utterly unable to regain my faith in Christ, which had 
been an anchor to my soul in many tossings 'and tem- 
pests. For a long time I was kept shut up in this 
condition, until I gave over searching books, or striving 
to satisty myself by any argument. I looked up to my 
Heavenly Father, but all was hid from me, and I won- 
dered how it was, that I should be unable to believe in 
the Lord Jesus Christ, who I had been taught to believe 
and never before doubted, was the Saviour; and yet 
through all, something kept me steadfast and patient: 
and I never told any one of my suffering condition. 

One evening as I was walking out for meditation, 
according to my frequent custom, with my mind turned 
towards the Lord. He whom my soul sought above 
all things, suddenly came to his temple, and by his 
Holy Spirit, revived ray faith, and gave me to see, that 
He alOne is the author of that faith which entereth 
within the vail, and o-lveth victory over the world, the 
flesh, and the devil: and that it is not founded merely 
on what is read, but is really of the operation of God 
on the heart. I rejoiced exceedingly and gave thanks 
to Him who is worthy of all praise and honor, and who 
will not give his glory to another. *I could now firmly 
believe in the Lord Jesus as my Saviour, because of 
the renewed revelation by the Holy Spirit giving me 
that faith in Him. — and through mercy I have never 
since been permitted to feel any doubt respecting his 
divinity, his mediation, or any of his offices in the 
redemption and salvation of man. I record this under 
a sense of my own nothingness, and for the purpose of 
exalting the glory of his grace ; believing that the 
foundation of true Gospel, saving faith is the immediate 
manifestations of the Holy Spirit, and it is this which 
draws the dedicated soul to Christ, and enables it to 
believe in Him savingly, to rely upon and to follow 
Him in the regeneration, as our Redeemer and Captain 
of our salvation. This faith works by love, and this 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 301 

love is evidenced and maintained in obedience. No 
man can be in the true faith unless Jesus Christ dwells 
in him; and where He rules, the fruits and the works 
of the Spirit will be brought forth; and the faith of 
such, though it may be tried as gold in the lire, will be 
renewed from time to time, and give the victory over 
all the powers of darkness. 

William Evans remarks that he often afterwards 
referred to that time of trial as a peculiar favor and 
blessing. It gave him clearly to see the error of those 
who denied the divinity and atonement of the Lord 
Jesus; and also of those who have regarded the Holy 
Scriptures as the origin and foundation of true faith in 
our Lord Jesus Christ. 

George Fox mentions that soon after he had gone 
forth, at the Lord's command, to proclaim the truths 
of the everlasting Gospel, "One morning, as I was sitting 
by the fire, a great cloud came over me, a temptation 
beset me; and I sat still. It was said, 'All things come 
by nature ! ' and the elements and stars came over me, 
so that I was in a manner quite clouded with it. But 
as I sat still and said nothing, the people of the house 
perceived nothing. And as I sat still under it and let 
it alone, a living hope and a true voice arose in me, 
which said, ' There is a living God who made all things.' 
Immediately the cloud and temptation vanished away, 
and life rose over it all; my heart was glad, and I 
praised the living God. After some time I met with 
some people who had a notion that there was no God, 
but all things come by nature. I had a great dispute 
with them, and overturned them, and made some of 



302 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

them confess that there is a living God. Then I saw 
that it was good that I had gone through that exer- 



The statement of George Fox, that as he sat still 
under this temptation and let it alone, a living hope 
sprung in him, recalls the advice of Isaac Penington 
to one who was under trial of spirit, not to heed the 
distressing thoughts which might arise, "but he still 
awhile, not believing in the power which thou feelest 
they have over thee ; " and "to pant after the hidden 
measure of life," which is " in that which inclines to 
the patience, to the stillness, to the hope, to the wait- 
ing, to the silence before the Father." 

When travelling in the Southern States in 1809, and 
near Norfolk, Va., S. Grellet says : — 

We had a meeting at Bennet's Creek, where I was 
greatly oppressed under a sense of the wickedness, and 
even the blood-guiltiness of some present, and I spoke 
to the people of the awful condition of those who thus 
follow the way of Cain. After meeting, I heard that 
three men were present who had been engaged in the 
murder of a black man ; but, as the evidence of 
slaves is not received, the law takes no cognizance of 
their crime. 

On another occasion, during the same visit, he was 
led to speak on a subject peculiarly appropriate to a 
part of his hearers. His Journal says — 

At South River [near Lynchburg, Va.,] as I was set- 
ting forth the abominable traffic in human flesh, three 
men came in and sat before me. It afterwards ap- 
peared, that they were travelling through the country 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS, 303 

on such inhuman business, and, seeing a concourse of 
persons coming to the meeting-house, they came in 
also, in hopes of hearing of some slaves they might 
purchase. I knew nothing of these circumstances; 
but, as I was speaking, tears would now and then 
escape them, and after meeting they said to some 
persons, that I so represented the wickedness of 
their trade that they could not refrain from weep- 
ing. Oh, that they might be tears of true repent- 
ance ! 

In like manner, when travelling in England in 1812, 
Stephen Grellet was led to speak on a subject, the 
peculiar appropriateness of which he did not see. 
He says : — 

At Beverly I had not felt at liberty to allow Friends 
to give any notice of my being at their meeting, and 
yet a number of strangers came in, when my mind was 
introduced into o^reat weight of exercise. Dwelling 
under it, I felt it my place to communicate what ap- 
peared to be the word of the Lord unto the people. 
Though the outward appearance of those present would 
have persuaded me that such a communication could 
not be suitable to such a congregation. I opened to 
them what were the requisite qualifications, under the 
law, for the priests to minister in the outward temple, 
and from whom the Lord's prophets received their 
authority and ability to speak in his name. With this 
I contrasted the services of the priests of Baal and of 
Jeroboam, and the state of the false prophets, who 
some of them mixed with the words of their own 
imagination and deceit, those they had stolen from the 
true prophets of the Lord. Then I proceeded to unfold 
what, from the earl f y days of Christianity, has consti- 
tuted a minister and an Apostle of Christ. What was 
their anointing, from whom their mission and authority 



304 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

came, what made them able ministers of the New 
Testament, and what evidence they gave that the Lord, 
by his Spirit, had sent them ; showing that as the 
ministration of the Gospel is now the same, — the same 
Gospel, and no other is to be preached, the same 
anointing and qualifications for the solemn service are 
to be received from the same source, even the Head 
of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, who bestows his 
Divine gifts upon his servants according to the several 
offices to which He has appointed them. Thus I set 
forth the nature, office and qualifications of a Gospel 
minister; described what the Church of Christ is, in 
what consists that worship, which the Father of spirits 
requireth, and which it is our duty to offer unto Him, 
even in spirit and in truth; finally, I contrasted with 
all this, the present formal worship ot many Christian 
professors, their man-made ministry, whence their 
qualifications proceeded, &c. It was a solemn good 
meeting. I was informed afterwards that several cler- 
gymen were present, who had been induced to come 
by the novelty of a French Friend being there. 

When travelling as a minister in the Western States, 
then newly settled, in 1809, Stephen Grellet met with 
many hardships and much exposure, at times having 
very little food, and even, as he says, " being obliged 
to chew the bark of wood for a meal." His exercise 
of mind, added to fatigue and exposure, so pressed 
upon him, that at the close of a meeting at Caesar's 
Creek, in Western Ohio, he fainted. After resting, he 
proceeded oh his journey to Fairfield, where symptoms 
of a fever prevailing in the neighborhood, joined to 
inflammation of the lungs, rendered him unable to 
travel further. Whilst sitting in an appointed meeting, 
his Journal says, under date of fourth of Ninth Month, 
" I became convinced that it would be in vain for me 
to attempt to proceed any further at present, and that 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS 305 

I must be resigned, if it was my dear Master's will, to 
lay down my earthly tabernacle in these distant parts, 
far separated from my dear wife and near friends. I 
was then engaged on bended knees, with fervency of 
spirit, to supplicate for resignation to the Lord's will, 
whether it might be a continuation of my life, to have 
it devoted to the service of my Saviour and Redeemer, 
or now to lay it down, amidst my engagements in ad- 
vocating his blessed cause of righteousness and Truth. 
I interceded also for all those among whom I have 
labored for years in the Gospel, that my feeble services 
among them may be so blessed as to draw their hearts 
to Christ; and lastly, prayers and intercessions were 
offered for the assembly present. After this I felt 
sweet peace, in the prospect of being laid on a bed of 
sickness. 

" I now went to my kind friends, "William and Hen- 
rietta Willis', who gave me every attention and accom- 
modation their circumstances, in a new country, allowed. 
Their log-house or cabin is rather more commodious 
than the others in the neighborhood, which have but 
a single room, where all the family sit and sleep, and 
where all the cooking is done ; but this had another 
small log-chamber joined to it; this they prepared for 
me, and it is to me like a little palace, though it is so 
open that I can count the stars as I lie on my bed. The 
fever soon increased to such a degree that those about 
me gave up all hope of my recovery. I was fully aware 
of my situation, but under a sense that I had come here 
in the service and at the command of my blessed Re- 
deemer, I felt sweet comfort in committing myself to 
his Divine disposal and care, now in sickness, as He 
had strengthened me to do in the prosecution of the 
work of his Gospel. I had again a full view of what I 
had beheld of the joys of God's salvation through Je- 
sus Christ, when near the gates of death with the yel- 
low fever in 1798 ; but I have seen also, that the end 

20 



306 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

for which my clays were then lengthened is not yet an- 
swered, that though I have been extensively engaged, 
as it was shown me then that I should be, in the ser- 
vice of the Gospel of my blessed Master, very wide and 
extensive fields are yet before me, both in this and in 
distant nations ; therefore I have said, ' Lord, thy will 
be clone,' do with me and for me as is good in thy sight, 
only bestow upon thy poor servant the blessing of pre- 
servation, that through life, and the sufferings attend- 
ing, I may glorify thee, as also by my death, whenever 
the work thou hast for me is accomplished. The place 
of my release, near or far from my beloved family, and 
the circumstances attending my earthly dissolution, I 
resign, Lord, entirely to thy disposal.' 

After Stephen Grellet's return, in 1814, from his 
second religious visit to Europe, he entered into busi- 
ness in New York. In his Journal he says: " I had 
entertained a hope that I had accomplished in Europe 
the whole of the work that my dear Master had for me 
there ; and very sweet peace had continued to attend 
me, when I recurred to the deep and peculiar exercises, 
and the nature of my services there ; but now I beheld 
such a field of further labors in those nations, as well 
as in the West Indies, which I should have to enter, 
that my soul was dismayed at the prospect. The JSorth 
of Europe, Norway, Sweden, Russia, parts of Asia Mi- 
nor, Greece, Italy, Rome, many parts of Germany and 
Spain, &c, were brought into view, as portions of the 
earth where I should have to proclaim the Lord's re- 
deeming love and power. Strong and awful was the 
impression made on my mind, that I could not enter 
into my Master's rest till this work was accomplished. 
With this a little faith was given that Omnipotence can 
enable to perform what to man seems impossible. I bow- 
ed very low before the Lord, and through the aid of his 
Divine grace, I was enabled to say, ' Here I am, Lord ! 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 307 

do with me as thou wilt; only go with me, and fulfil again 
thy blessed promise, as thou hast so graciously clone on 
every previous occasion when thou hast sent thy poor 
servant on thy Gospel errands' — ' I will teach thee and 
instruct thee in the way in which thou goest ; I will 
guide thee with mine eye.' Lord ! thou hast not 
only guided thy servant, but also helped, sustained and 
to this day preserved him, a monument of thy good- 
ness, mercy and power." 

Again, in ] 816, near the close of an exercising visit 
in Hayti, he was seized with a severe attack of illness, 
while at Port-au-Prince. Of this he makes the follow- 
ing record : " The disease made such rapid progress, 
that in a few days I was reduced to the greatest weak- 
ness; neither the physician nor those about me thought 
my recovery possible; my limbs were already cold. I 
was very sensible of my situation, and that my life did 
now hang on a very slender thread, and' that it was 
proper I should stand prepared for the moment of my 
departure, should the Lord order it to be so near at 
hand as it appeared to be. Accordingly I gave direc- 
tions for my funeral and circumstances attending my 
demise. My mind, through my dear Eedeemer's love 
and mercy, was preserved in much calmness, and, in 
peaceful acquiescence with his sovereign will, pros- 
trated before Him. I marvelled if, in his Divine mercy 
and compassion, He would now indeed cut short my 
Avork in righteousness, and release me from the great 
weight of service which I have repeatedly felt for many 
of the European nations particularly. At the time 
when I was the lowest, my concern in Gospel love for 
these nations came upon me with force, and the lan- 
guage was proclaimed in my ear, ' Thou shalt indeed 
visit those nations ; the clays of thy earthly race are 
not yet accomplished.' My soul bowed reverently be- 
fore the Lord, and I said, ' Do with me, Lord, accord- 
ing to thy Divine will.'" 



308 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

The following year, under the date of twenty-sixth 
of Eleventh Month, Stephen Grellet makes the follow- 
ing memorandum, " The weight of the service which 
the Lord calls for from me in Europe, becomes heavier 
and heavier ; my whole mind is at seasons absorbed by 
it. I greatly wonder that services of this kind should 
be laid upon me in nations whose language I under- 
stand not, where I do not know that there is even a 
practicability to travel, and where numerous difficulties 
and great perils must necessarily attend me. Yet some- 
times it seems as if I saw a plain path before me in 
Norway, Sweden, Russia, toward the Crimea, over the 
Black Sea, in Greece, Italy, &c, with a conviction that 
the Lord can remove every difficulty and * make of the 
mountains a way.' Many days and nights I have spent 
prostrated with much reverence before Him ; and now 
believing that in simple faith and childlike submission, 
I must submit myself to his Divine requirings, I have 
found it my place to prepare to follow the Lord where- 
soever He is pleased to call me. My dear family, my 
life, and my all, are again offered up to Him, even if, 
as it may prove to be, I should never return to this 
land. Thus my first step must be to wind up all my 
temporal concerns and retire from my business, which 
has become a prosperous one, whereby I have been en- 
abled to defray the heavy expenses of my last journey, 
to provide for my beloved family, and to lay up enough 
to pay my expenses during the extensive service before 
me. The little substance with which the Lord has 
blessed me is offered to his service, and a promise made 
me years ago, ' that if I endeavored faithfully to serve 
Him, He would provide for me everything necessary/ 
is renewed." 

The Journal of Stephen Grellet mentions that when 
on his way to Europe on a religious visit, in 1807, the 
vessel in which he was sailing encountered a severe 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 309 

storm. " The waves were like mountains, taking us 
up on high; then they would suddenly break asunder, 
and let the ship fall as into a deep abyss, with a great 
crash, as if she would break in pieces under the shock; 
then she trembled like a leaf. ¥e were under the 
greater apprehensions as she is deeply laden, which 
makes her labor hard; truly applicable to our situation 
is the description given by the Psalmist. (Ps. cvii : 
23-29.) At a time when my mind was absorbed in 
the deep contemplation both of the nature of the re- 
ligious services I had before me, and the perils by 
which I was surrounded, my attention was directed to 
those lofty waves and deep abysses, and the heavy 
shocks the ship endured, amidst which she was pre- 
served ; and I felt a living hope springing in me, that 
the Lord God Omnipotent would also uphold me, 
under the various afflictions and trials that would 
befall me, if I only maintained a constant trust and 
confidence in Him. Thou hast shown thy servant, 
O Lord, that thy power is over all, that he that trust- 
eth in thee is like Mount Sion that cannot be moved; 
thou hast condescended to revive my drooping spirit, 
when under complicated fears and dreads, from within 
and from without, the soothing language, 'Fear not, 
thou worm Jacob, for I am with thee, be not dismayed, 
for I am thy God; when thou passest through the 
waters I will be with thee,' &c." 

A few weeks later, after entering the Mediterranean, 
and before reaching his port, he was again exposed to 
imminent danger; this time from violent and unrea- 
sonable men. But he was favored to experience the 



310 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

same calm confidence in the Lord, without whose per- 
mission no eyil can befall his servants; and who is 
able to make the wrath of man an instrument in pro- 
moting his designs. His Journal says, under date of 
twenty-fourth of Seventh Month : — 

This afternoon we saw a ship coming toward us. I 
apprehended she was a suspicious vessel; she had 
another in tow, and as she came alongside of us, we 
saw her full of rough-looking men, with swords or 
cutlasses in their hands, and other weapons. The 
captain thought they were Algerines. They ordered 
us on board their ship, and our seamen were in the act 
of lowering our boat, to obey their summons, when, 
discovering an English frigate in chase of them, they 
immediately made all possible sail to escape with their 
prize, which was probably some merchant ship they 
had lately captured, the crew of which they reserved 
for slavery; this, very probably, would have been also 
our portion, had the frigate been a few moments later 
in making her appearance. When our poor seamen 
saw the danger we were in, some of them made doleful 
lamentations at their prospect of slavery. My own 
mind was preserved calm; for I remembered what 
occurred to me some months ago, in New York, whilst 
in a religious meeting, my mind solemnly gathered 
before the Lord; I then felt that there was a possibility 
of my being taken, during the passage on that sea, by 
some of the Algerines, or Morocco powers, and carried 
into slavery by them. My spirit bowed reverently 
before the Lord, in confidence that He might, if it was 
his good pleasure, deliver me from the hands of merci- 
less men, and every other evil ; but, if He had a service 
for me among those people, I bowed in humble resig- 
nation to whatever He might suffer to come upon me, 
praying that it might only turn to his glory and the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 311 

salvation of my soul. Thus, whilst these men were by 
the side of us, I was waiting to see what the Lord had 
for me now to do for his great name. I thought I 
could willingly proclaim to them the Gospel message 
of redeeming love, or suffer among them for the sake 
of Him, who has suffered and died for us, "the just for 
the unjust, that He might bring us to God." But 
after this day's fresh interposition of Divine power 
to deliver, my soul has ascribed blessing, and praise 
unto Him. 

The writer recently came into possession of some 
additional particulars of this adventure, not mentioned 
in the Journal, but which are not inconsistent there- 
with. According to this statement, the pirate captain 
was already in possession of their vessel, and was about 
transferring a portion of the captured officers and crew 
to his own ship. Among the rest he ordered Stephen 
Grellet to go aboard the pirate. He hesitated; the 
captain sternly commanded him to move on. He 
moved a little, then stopped, looking all the while 
intensely at a certain point of the compass, where 
nothing could be seen but an expanse of water. He 
was again ordered in threatening tones to proceed; 
and at length had gone so far as the first steps of the 
ladder to the boat, still looking at the mysterious, in- 
visible object. The captain now called for his tele- 
scope, to see what his captive was looking at. After 
a moment's observation, without telling what he saw, 
he ordered the men already in the boat back to their 
own ship, went with his own men to his, suddenly 
hoisted sail and departed. Soon after a "man-of-war" 
appeared from the point to which S. G. was looking; 



312 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

and had not the pirate been quick in his movements, 
he would probably have been taken. 

It may readily be supposed that a feeling of modesty, 
an unwillingness to render himself too conspicuous, 
might have induced Stephen Grellet to omit such details 
as are above given, from his own narrative; especially 
as what he has recorded bears full testimony to the 
goodness and preserving care of the Almighty. A 
further evidence of this modesty, is the anecdote told 
of a friend calling to see Stephen Grellet and his wife, 
in his old age, at their home in Burlington, N. J., and 
found them looking wearied and worn. Stephen ex- 
plained, by saying that they had been going over a 
large collection of letters, received from various persons 
with whom he had met on his travels in Europe and 
elsewhere, and that he had found many of them to 
contain expressions so complimentary to him and his 
services, that he felt it right to destroy them, whilst he 
was still living. 

Love for their offspring is a feeling deeply implanted 
by the great Creator ; not only in mankind, but in those 
animals of a lower order among whom the young are 
so helpless as to require for a time the watchful care 
and attention of their parents. One of the brutalizing 
effects of vice is to deaden the sensibility and finer 
feelings of its votaries, so that the children of such are 
often badly treated. But when the convictions of 
Grace, and the softening effects of the love of God are 
allowed to operate, such parents find in their hearts a 
feeling of tenderness towards their children to which 
they were before strangers. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 313 

It is recorded of Edward Wright, who had been a 
notoriously wicked man, that in that portion of his life 
when he was living in sin, he had but little love for his 
offspring and treated them with much severity. But 
being remarkably visited by Divine Grace, and submit- 
ting his heart to the heavenly visitation, the affection 
that sprang up for his children was like a new revela- 
tion, which filled his eyes with tears and his heart with 
emotion. " How he could have been so savage a brute 
seemed now to him strange. How he could have per- 
mitted them almost to starve while he was drinking 
and rioting, passed all comprehension." Seeing the 
poor little creatures huddled up in the corner of the 
room, "his first feeling was to weep; his next to take 
them up in his arms and kiss them. There and then 
he made a solemn vow that, with the help of Him who 
had awakened such gentle emotions of love in his 
breast, he would ill-use them no more, but act the part 
of a Christian parent." 

An interesting illustration of that Divine love which 
reaches to all mankind, even to the unthankful and 
unholy, was given by one who was endeavoring to im- 
press on the mind of another, the goodness of Him 
who first loved us, and willeth not "the death of the 
sinner, but that all men should return, repent and live. 
He said to his friend, in substance: "When I leave 
you I shall go to my own residence, if the Lord will; 
and when there the first thing that I expect to do is to 
call for a baby that is in the house. I expect to place 
her on my knee, and look down into her sweet eyes, 
and listen to her charming prattle, and, tired as I am, 
her presence will rest me, for I love that child with 
unutterable tenderness. But. the fact is she does not 
love me, or to say the most of her, she loves me very 
little. If my heart were breaking under the burden 
of a crushing sorrow, it would not disturb her sleep. 



314 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

If my body were racked with excruciating pain, it 
would not interrupt her play with her toys. If I were 
dead she would be amused in watching my pale face 
and closed eyes. If my friends came to remove the 
corpse to the place of burial, she would probably clasp 
her hands in glee, and in two or three days totally for- 
get her papa. Besides this she has never brought me 
a penny, but has been a constant expense on my hands 
ever since she was born. Yet, although I am not rich 
in the world's possessions, there is not money enough 
in the world to buy my baby. How is it? D.oes she 
love me, or do I love her? Do I withhold my love until 
I know she loves me? Am I waiting for her to do 
something worthy of my love before extending it to 
her?" 

The Scriptures contain many passages which speak 
of the love of God to man, and of the offers of mercy 
held out even to those who have been rebellious, and 
disobedient. But while the penitent sinner may well 
take comfort in reading and meditating on these, it is 
wise also to remember, that those who continue to 
reject the invitations of the Almighty shall finally be 
cut off without remedy. In the Bible, we have both 
invitations and warnings, and we must not shut our 
eyes to either class of the inducements thus held out 
to walk in that way that is well-pleasing to God. 

At one period there was considerable sickness in the 
family of Christopher Healy; and the physician had 
often attended upon them. When Christopher called 
upon him for the bill for his services, he replied, that 
if he would give him fifty dollars, the bill would be 
considered settled, although that was a low charge for 
the labor performed. Christopher had not the money, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 315 

but promised to give it to him, when it came into 
his possession. 

Some time after he received through the mail an 
envelope containing a fifty-dollar note and nothing else 
— nothing to indicate from what source it came. The 
money was paid to the physician and the debt dis- 
charged. 

Having occasion to go to Philadelphia, and being 
at Henry Cope's house, he related the circumstance; 
and then asked Henry if his hand was not in this 
occurrence. Henry then acknowledged, that feeling 
an impression to send Christopher $50, he had done so. 

The kind feeling which Henry Cope entertained for 
his friend Christopher would not have added much to 
the latter's comfort, if he had not performed the act 
which that feeling prompted. Indeed our Saviour 
said, that a tree is to be known by its fruit; and we 
may well doubt the sincerity or the reality of those 
professions of benevolence which never lead to corre- 
sponding efforts to relieve the distress of others. In 
a letter to Richard Reynolds who was a very liberal 
giver to the wants of the poor, John Thorp says : — 

I never had much to give, but I remember an 
instance, by which I was deeply instructed in the nature 
of Christian charity. One evening when* I lived in 
London, as I passed by rather a retired corner of a 
street, a poor woman sat, (I think with a child in her 
arms), and very modestly asked charity. I felt pity 
strongly raised in my heart, and a language like this 
was feelingly raised in it, " The Lord help thee;" but 
I passed by, and it very livingly arose in my heart, 
"By what means?" — "by putting it into the hearts of 



316 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

such as can feel as thou now dost, to relieve her." I 
turned back and gave her something. 

Too many of those who are surrounded by outward 
comforts, forget that they are only stewards of their 
possessions, for the right use of w r hich they must give 
an account, when their Lord calls them to a reckoning. 
They now find many excuses for smothering the feel- 
ings of compassion which would prompt them to be 
liberal in relieving the wants of others; and either 
spend more than is needful and proper on themselves 
and their families, or keep on accumulating their 
means, adding farm to farm, field to field, or increasing 
the amount of their investments. Are not some of us 
too thoughtless and unconcerned about the warning 
conveyed by our Saviour, who said that at the day of 
judgment those should be turned away w T ith the goats, 
who had neglected to feed and clothe and visit the 
hungry, naked and sick? 

Years ago, I met with the following anecdote which 
interested me greatly at the time. I do not remember 
the paper in which it was originally published. 

A merchant very extensively engaged in commerce, 
in one of our Atlantic cities, died intestate at the age 
of seventy-five. After his deatb, among his papers, a 
package of very considerable size was found, carefully 
tied up, and labeled as follows: — 

"Notes, due-bills and accounts against persons down 
along the shore. Some of these may be got by suit or 
severe dunning. But the people are poor; most of 
them have had fisherman's luck. My children will do 
what they think best. Perhaps they will think with 
me, that it is best to burn this package entire." 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 317 

About a month after he died the sons met together, 
when the elder brother, the administrator, produced 
this package, read the superscription, and asked what 
course should be taken in regard to it. Another 
brother a few years younger than the eldest, a man of 
strong, impulsive temperament, unable at the moment 
to express his feelings in words, while he brushed the 
tears from his eyes with one hand, by a spasmodic jerk 
of the other towards the lire-place, indicated his wish 
to have the package put into the flames. It was sug- 
gested by one of the other brothers that it might be 
well first to make a list of the debtors' names, and of 
the dates and amounts, that they might be enabled, as 
the intended discharge was for all, to inform such 
as might offer payment, that their debts were for- 
given. 

On the following day they again assembled, the list 
had been prepared, and all the notes, due-bills and 
accounts, the amount of which, including the interest, 
amounted to thirty thousand dollars, were committed 
to the flames. 

It was four months after our father's death, con- 
tinued my informant, that I was sitting in my eldest 
brother's counting-room, waiting for an opportunity to 
speak with him, when there came in a hard-favored, 
little old man who looked as if time and rough weather 
had been to windward of him for seventy years. My 
brother replied that he was administrator, as our father 
died intestate. 

"Well," said the stranger, " I've come up from the 
Cape to pay a debt I owed the old gentleman." 

My brother requested him to take a seat, being at 
that moment engaged with other persons at the desk. 
The old man sat down, and putting on his glasses, drew 
out a very ancient leather pocket-book, and began to 
count over his money. When he had finished, as he 
sat waiting his turn, slowly twirling his thumbs, with 



318 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

his old gray, meditative eyes on the floor, he sighed, 
and I knew the money, as the phrase runs, came hard; 
and I secretly wished the old man's name might be 
found upon the forgiven list. 

My brother was soon at leisure, and asked him the 
ordinary questions — his name, residence, &c. The 
original debt was four hundred and forty dollars; it had 
stood a long time, and with the interest amounted to 
between seven and eight hundred dollars. My brother 
went to the desk and after examining the forgiven list 
attentively, a sudden smile lighted up his countenance, 
and told me the truth at a glance. The old man's name 
was there ! My brother quietly took a chair by his side, 
and a conversation took place between them, which I 
shall never forget. 

"Your note is outlawed," said he; "it was dated 
twelve years ago, payable in two years; there is no 
witness, and no interest has ever been paid ; you are 
not bound to pay this note ; we can never recover the 
amount." 

" Sir," said the old man, " I wish to pay it. It is 
the only heavy debt I have in the world. It may be 
outlawed here, but I have no child, and my wife and I 
hope we may have made our peace with God as we 
wish to do with man. I should like to pay it." 

And he laid his bank notes before my brother, re- 
questing him to count them over. 

"I cannot take this money," said my brother. The 
old man became alarmed. 

" I have cast simple interest for twelve years and a 
little over," said he. "I will pay you compound 
interest if you require it. The debt ought to have 
been paid long ago, but your father was very indul- 
gent; he knew I had been unlucky and told me not to 
worry about it." 

My brother then set the whole matter plainly before 
him, and taking the bank bills, returned them to the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 319 

old man's pocket book, telling him that although our 
father had left no formal will he had recommended to 
destroy certain notes, due-bills and other evidences of 
debt, and release those who might be legally bound to 
pay them. 

For a moment the worthy old man appeared to be 
stupefied. After he had collected himself, and wiped 
a few tears from his eyes, he said : — 

" From the time I heard of your father's death I 
have raked and scraped and pinched and spared, to get 
money for the payment of this debt. About ten days 
ago I had made up the sum within twenty dollars. My 
wife knew how much the payment of this debt lay on 
my spirits, and advised me to sell a cow to make up 
the difference, and get the burden off my mind. I did 
so, and now what will my wife say ? I must go back to 
the Cape, and tell her this good news. She'll probably 
repeat the very words she used when she put her 
hands on my shoulders, as we parted — ' I have never 
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their 
bread.' " 

Giving each of us a hearty shake of the hand, and a 
blessing upon our old father's memory, he went on his 
way rejoicing. 

After a short silence, taking his pencil, and making 
a cast, my brother said : — 

" There, your part of the money would be so much. 
Contrive a plan to convey to me your share of the 
pleasure derived from this operation ; the money is at 
your service." 

The way in which Dorothea L. Dix first became in- 
terested in the care of the insane, which proved to be 
the main work of her life, is an interesting illustration 
of the manner in which our heavenly Father is at times 
pleased to lead his children in a way they know not, 



320 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

and to open before them fields of service of which they 
had before no knowledge. 

The labors of Dorothea L. Dix on behalf of the in- 
sane, evidenced not only a benevolent desire to alleviate 
the sufferings of others, but a degree of courage and 
perseverance which claim admiration. 

Dr. Nichols relates, that " while a member of the 
theological school in Cambridge, I was one of a body 
of students who took the East Cambridge House of 
Correction in charge for Sunday-school instruction. 
All the women, twenty in number, were assigned to 
me. I was at once convinced that, not a young man, 
but a woman should be their teacher. Consulting my 
mother, I was directed by her to Miss Dix for further 
counsel. On hearing my account, Miss Dix said, after 
some deliberation, ' I will take them myself!' I pro- 
tested her physical incapacity, as she was in feeble 
health. ' I shall be there next Sunday,' was her an- 
swer. 

"After the school was over, Miss Dix went into the 
jail. She found among the prisoners a few insane 
persons, with whom she talked. She noticed there was 
no stove in their room, and no means of proper warmth. 
The jailer said that a fire for them was not needed, and 
would not be safe. Her repeated solicitations were 
without success. At that time the court was in session 
at East Cambridge, and she caused the case to be 
brought before it. Her request was granted. The 
cold rooms were warmed. Thus was her great work 
commenced. Of course I claim not a particle of credit. 
I was simply the instrument of the Good Providence 
to open the door for this angel of mercy to come in." 

Was the state of things in the East Cambridge jail 
an exception, or did it simply exemplify the rule 
throughout the whole commonwealth ? This was the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 321 

painful question now raised in the mind of D. L. Dix, 
to an unmistakable answer to which she resolutely de- 
voted the next two years. Note-book in hand, she 
started out on her voyage of exploration, visiting every 
jail and almshouse from Berkshire on the west to Cape 
Cod on the east. Steadily accumulating her statistics 
of outrage and misery, she at last got together a mass 
of eye-witness testimony appalling in extent and detail. 
With this she now determined to memorialize the Leg- J 
islature of Massachusetts. 

As this was the first memorial addressed by her to a 
State Legislature — long as was the series of the like 
that was to follow — full extracts from it are needful, 
alike to reveal the patience, energy and spirit of hu- 
manity with which she addressed herself to her work, 
as well as the actual character of the evils she was now 
in arms against. 

" Gentlemen. . . . About two years since, leisure 
afforded me opportunity to visit several prisons and 
almshouses in the vicinity of this metropolis. . . . 
Every investigation has given depth to the conviction 
that it is only by decided, prompt and vigorous legis- 
lation that the evils to which I refer, and which I shall 
proceed more fully to illustrate, can be remedied. I 
shall be obliged to speak with great plainness, and to 
reveal many things revolting to the taste, and from 
which my woman's nature shrinks with peculiar sensi- 
tiveness. But truth is the highest consideration. / 
tell what 1 have seen, painful and shocking as the details 
often are, that from them you may feel more deeply 
the imperative obligation which lies upon you to pre- 
vent the possibility of a repetition or continuance of 

such outrages upon humanity. 

If my pictures are displeasing, coarse and severe, my 
subjects, it must be recollected, offer no tranquil, refining 
or composing features. The condition of human beings 
reduced to the extremest stage of degradation and mis- 
21 



322 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

ery cannot "be exhibited in softened language, or adorn 
a polished page. 

" I proceed, gentlemen, briefly to call your attention 
to the present state of insane persons confined in this 
Commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens ; 
chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedi- 
ence !" 

Page after page, the Memorial then goes on to recite 
the details of a long catalogue of horrors. 

In one of her public documents, Dorothea L. Dix 
narrates her first visit to Little Compton. As it throws 
light alike on the courageous mercy with which she 
went about her work, and on the character of the per- 
sons in whose charge such poor wretches were placed, 
it seems needful to give it. 

After investigating carefully the condition of two or 
three miserable beings confined there, and being warned 
not to go into the cell of Abram Simmons, as he would 
surely kill her, she proceeds as follows with her narra- 
tive : 

" Your other patient, where is he ?" " You shall see. 
But stay outside till I get a lantern." Accustomed to 
exploring cells and dungeons in the basements and 
cellars of poor-houses and prisons, I concluded that the 
insane man spoken of was confined in some such dark, 
damp retreat. "Weary and oppressed, I leaned against 
an iron door which closed the sole entrance to a singu- 
lar stone structure, much resembling a tomb, yet its 
use in the court-yard of the poor-house was not appar- 
ent. Soon, low, smothered moans and groans reached 
me, as if from the buried alive. At this moment the 
mistress advanced, with keys and a lantern. "He's 
here," said she, unlocking the strong, solid door. A 
step down, and short turn through a narrow passage to 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 323 

the right, brought us, after a few steps, to a second iron 
door parallel to the first and equally solid. In like 
manner, this was unlocked and opened, but so terribly 
noxious was the poisonous air that immediately per- 
vaded the passage, that considerable time elapsed be- 
fore I was able to return and remain long enough to 
investigate the horrible den. Language is too weak to 
convey an idea of the scene presented. 

The candle was remote from the scene, and the flick- 
ering rays partly illuminated a spectacle never to be 
forgotten. The place, when closed, had no source of 
light or of ventilation. It was about seven feet by 
seven, and six and a half high. All, even the roof, was 
of stone. An iron frame interlaced with rope, was the 
sole furniture. The place was filthy, damp and noi- 
some; and the inmate, the crazy man, the helpless and 
dependent creature, cast by the will of Providence on 
the cares and sympathies of his fellow-man — there he 
stood, near the door, motionless and silent; his tangled 
hair fell about his shoulders ; his bare feet pressed the 
filthy, wet stone floor ; he was emaciated to a shadow, 
etiolated, and more resembled a disinterred corpse 
than any living creature. Never have I looked upon 
an object so pitiable, so woe-struck, so imaging despair. 
I took his hands and endeavored to warm them by 
gentle friction. I spoke to him of release, of liberty, of 
•care and kindness. Notwithstanding the assertions of 
the mistress that he would kill me, I persevered. A 
tear stole over the hallow cheek, but no words answered 
my importunities ; no other movement indicated con- 
sciousness of perception or of sensibility. 

In moving a little forward I struck against some- 
thing which returned a sharp, metallic sound; it was a 
length of ox-chain, connected to an iron ring which 
encircled a leg of the insane man. At one extremity 
it was joined to what is termed a solid chain — namely, 
bars of eighteen inches or two feet long, linked together, 



324 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

and at one end connected by a staple to the rock over- 
head. 

" My husband," said the mistress, " in winter rakes 
out sometimes, of a morning, half a bushel of frost, and 
yet he never freezes;" referring to the oppressed and life- 
stricken maniac before us. " Sometimes he screams 
dreadfully," she added, and that is the reason we had 
the double wall, and two doors in place of one; his cries 
disturbed us in the house." 

" How long has he been here ?" 

" Oh, above three years ; but then he was kept a long 
while in a cage first; but once he broke his chains and 
the bars, and escaped ; so we had this built, where he 
can't get off. Get off! No, indeed; as well might the 
buried dead break through the sealed gates of the 
tomb!" 

What was the first practicable step toward providing 
lit accommodation and care for the miserable creatures 
she had found all over the State of Rhode Island ? 
There already existed a small asylum in the city of 
Providence, conducted on wise and humane principles. 
But it was totally inadequate to the demands made on 
it. Still it furnished a good foundation, and an appeal 
to the wealthy and humane for means towards its im- 
mediate enlargement seemed the wisest present course. 

In this juncture was it that the extraordinary power 
of D. L. Dix to reach the heart and purse of those whom 
everyone else failed to move, showed its first proof. 
Among the list of persons to wlibm she resolved to 
make appeal was Cyrus Butler, a man of large business 
capacity ; who ultimately left an estate of four million 
dollars, but who, like so many men absorbed in the 
pursuit of wealth, had contracted a passion for accumu- 
lation that rendered it well nigh impossible to persuade 
him to give a dollar away. People smiled significantly 
when D. L. Dix announced her intention of calling 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 325 

upon him, and expressed the usual sentiment about 
" getting milk out of a stone." 

" But none of these things moved her." Her faith 
in human nature, if only strongly and wisely enough 
appealed to, was invincible. 

Accompanied, therefore, to the house of Butler by 
Edward B. Hall, D. D., of Providence, who left her at 
the door, she made the momentous visit. It was a sin- 
gular visit. For some time, through sheer force of 
life-long habit, Butler sought to put her off by diverting 
the conversation to the familiar but rather unprofitable 
topic of the weather. So great is the variety of weather 
in Rhode Island, as well as in her sister State of Mas- 
sachusetts, that whole days might thus have been spent 
without exhausting the subject. Preserving her temper 
and self-control, D. L. Dix pleasantly adjusted herself 
to the humor of the scene, until finally, feeling that the 
thing had gone tar enough, she arose with command- 
ing dignity, and said, " Mr. Butler, I wish you to hear 
what I have to say. I want to bring before you cer- 
tain facts, involving terrible suffering to your fellow- 
creatures all around you — suffering you can relieve. 
My duty will end when I have done this, and with you 
will then rest all further responsibility." Then, quietly, 
clearly, and with suppressed emotion, she told the pa- 
thetic story of what she had seen with her own eyes. 
She told it as though, there in that parlor, were stand- - 
ing for judgment two accountable beings before the 
tribunal of poor Simmons' avenging God. Cyrus But- 
ler listened, spellbound, till she was through, and then 
abruptly said, " Miss Dix, what do you want me to do?" 

" Sir, I want you to give fifty thousand dollars toward 
the enlargement of the insane hospital in this city !" 

" Madam, I'll do it," was his answer. 

No one who has ever visited the Hospital for the In- 
sane of the Army and Navy, at Washington, D. C, 
could have set foot within its grounds without exclaim- 



326 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

ing, " This is the ideal site for an asylum !" Situated 
at the junction of two broad and noble rivers, the Po- 
tomac and the East Branch ; commanding a superb 
view by land and water ; gently sloping on all sides from 
its higest elevation, so as to secure perfect drainage ; 
and embracing within its bounds the most varied charm 
of wood and pasture, it seems to unite every conceivable 
advantage. Now at the date of the passage by Con- 
gress, in 1852, of an appropriation for founding an 
asylum for the insane of the army and navy, this beau- 
tiful domain was the private property of Thpmas Blag- 
den, and, in carefully examining the whole country sur- 
rounding Washington, Dr. John H. Nichols, who had 
labored indefatigably toward the passage of the bill, had 
made up his mind that there was no other site at all 
compared with it. Blagden, however, turned a deaf 
ear to every proposition on the part of Dr. Nichols 
to buy it. The estate had become endeared to him 
through the exceptional beauty of its situation, and 
was, moreover, the especial pride of his wife and daugh- 
ters. Besides, the full amount appropriated by Con- 
gress for the purchase of a site was but twenty-five 
thousand dollars, and on no consideration, Blagden in- 
sisted, would he part with the property at less than 
forty thousand dollars. 

One day, after having exhausted every personal effort, 
and thoroughly depressed in spirits, Dr. Nichols went 
in to see D. L. Dix. " There is nothing more to be 
done !" he exclaimed; we shall have to give the matter 
up; and it is the finest site for a hospital in the world !" 

D. L. Dix listened without excitement, and then re- 
plied in her usual quiet tone, " We must try what can 
be done !" Seeking a personal interview with T. Blag- 
den, so earnestly and movingly did she reason with him 
to surrender, for the future good of thousands of his 
suffering fellow-creatures, what was so precious, indeed, 
to him and his family, but to one household only, that 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 327 

the appeal proved irresistible, and he gave her his 
promise of the estate at the amount appropriated by 
Congress. None the less, the parting with it cost him 
a fearful wrench; for on Dr. Nichols' calling on him 
the next clay, with the requisite papers to sign, Blagden 
was found walking the room to and fro, weeping and 
wringing his hands in a half hysteric condition. " I 
don't want to part with it !" he kept reiterating. "It 
is dear to me and dear to my family. But I won't break 
my promise to Miss Dix, I won't break my word ! I 
tol*d her she should have it, and she shall have it." 

Such scenes as this do honor to human nature. In- 
deed, it would be hard to instance a more beautiful 
tribute to the power of consecrated womanhood than 
is found in the following letter, so simple, hushed and 
awestruck in its tone, sent to D. L. Dix by T. Blagden, 
the evening of the day on which she had thus closed 
in, in Jacob's angel wrestle, with his deepest nature : 

" Washington, November 13, 1852. 
" Dear Madam : — Since seeing you, to-day, I have 
had no other opinion (and Mrs. B. also) than that I 
must not stand between you and the beloved farm, re- 
garding you, as I do, as the instrument in the hands of 
God to secure this very spot for the unfortunates whose 
best earthly friend you are, and believing sincerely that 
the Almighty's blessing will not rest on, nor abide with, 
those who may place obstacles in your way. 

" With Mrs. Blagden's and my own most friendly 
regards, 

" Very respectfully, 

" Your obedient servant, 

" Thomas Blagden." 

The history of the reform in the manner of treating 
insane patients, instituted by Dr. Pinel in Paris and 
William Tuke in England, furnishes an interesting 



328 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

illustration of the influence that can be exerted by in- 
telligent perseverance in a good cause. The following 
narrative is extracted from the life of Dorothea L. Dix, 
herself an untiring laborer in the cause of humanity: 

Dr. Philippe Pinel, on receiving in 1792, the ap- 
pointment of superintendent of the Bicetre, the asylum 
for incurable insane males, exclaimed — "Off with these 
chains ! away with these iron cages and brutal keep- 
ers ! They make a hundred madmen where they cure 
one. There is another and a better way. The insane 
man is not an inexplicable monster. He is but one of 
ourselves, only a little more so. Underneath his wild- 
est paroxysms there is a germ, at least, of rationality 
and of personal accountability. To believe in this, to 
seek for it, stimulate it, build it up — here lies the only 
way of delivering him out of the fatal bondage in which 
he is held ! " 

With unflagging persistency did Pinel urge these 
humane convictions on the Commune, and seek to get 
authority to try the effect of his scheme on at least one- 
fourth of his patients. The idea seemed to those he 
argued with as wildly visionary; as a deliberate pro- 
posal to go out to the Jardin des Plantes and fling 
wide the gratings to the jaguars and tigers confined 
there. At last, however, he persuaded the ferocious 
Couthon to go with him to the Bicetre, and consider 
the problem on the spot. "They were greeted in the 
gloomy prison by the yells and execrations of three 
hundred maniacs, mingling the clanking of their chains 
with the uproar of their voices." 

Already had Couthon had long and familiar experi- 
ence in dealing with the most savage elements of 
society. But before the proposition now made him he 
utterly quailed. After looking over the patients, he 
said to Pinel, "Ah, 9a! citoyen, es tu fou toi-meme de 
vouloir dechainer de pareils animaux ? (Citizen are you 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 329 

crazy yourself, that you would unchain such beasts ?) " 
Permission, however, to try the mad experiment was 
finally given, some of the first results of which will be 
found recorded in the following abridgment of a por- 
tion of a memoir, read by the son of Pinel before the 
Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences : — 

" J^ear the close of the year 1792, M. Pinel, having 
repeatedly importuned the government to issue a decree 
permitting him to unchain the maniacs at the Bicetre, 
went in person to solicit what had been refused to his 
written representations. With courage and resolution 
he urged the removal of this cruel abuse. At length, 
M. Couthon, member of the Commune, yielded to the 
importunate arguments of Pinel, and consented to meet 
him at the hospital, to witness these first experiments, 
as well as to assure himself that this was not a strata- 
gem to give liberty to political offenders. 

"Couthon proceeded, himself, to question the pa- 
tients, but received only abuse and execrations, accom- 
panied by terrible cries and the clanking of chains. 
Retreating from the damp and filthy cells, he exclaimed 
to Pinel, ' Do as you will ; but you will be sacrificed to 
this false sentiment of mercy.' Pinel delayed no longer, 
he selected fifty who he believed might be released 
from their chains without danger to others. The fet- 
ters were removed, first, from twelve, using the pre- 
caution of having prepared strong jackets, closing 
behind, with long sleeves, which could be used if 
necessary. 

" The experiments commenced with an English cap- 
tain whose history was unknown; he had been in chains 
forty years ! As he was thought to be one of the most 
dangerous, having killed, at one time, an attendant 
with a blow from his manacles, the keepers approached 
him with caution ; but first Pinel entered his cell un- 
attended. 'Ah, well, captain, I will cause your chains 
to be taken off; you shall have liberty to walk in the 



330 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

court if you will promise to behave like a gentleman, 
and offer no assault to those you will meet.' ' I would 
promise,' said the maniac, ' but you deride me, you are 
amusing yourself at my expense; you all fear me, once 
free.' 'I have six men,' replied Pinel, ' ready to obey 
my orders ; believe me, therefore, I will set you free 
from this duresse, if you will put on this jacket.' The 
captain assented; the chains were removed, and the 
jacket laced, the keepers withdrew, without closing the 
door. He raised himself, but fell ; this effort was re- 
peated again and again; the use of his limbs, so long 
constrained, nearly failed; at length, trembling, and 
with tottering steps, he emerged from his dark dun- 
geon. His first look icas at the shy! 'Ah,' cried he, 
'how beautiful!' The remainder of the day he was 
constantly moving to and fro, uttering continually ex- 
clamations of pleasure; he heeded no one: the flowers, 
the trees, above all, the sky, engrossed him. At night he 
voluntarily returned to his cell, which had been cleansed 
and furnished with a better bed ; his sleep was tranquil 
and profound. For the two remaining years which he 
spent in the hospital he had no recurrence of violent 
paroxysms, and often rendered good service to the 
keepers in conducting the affairs of the establish- 
ment. 

" The patient released next after the captain was 
Chevinge, a soldier of the French Guards, who had 
been chained ten years and had been peculiarly diffi- 
cult of control. Pinel, entering his cell, announced 
that if he would obey his injunctions he should be 
chained no longer. He promised, and, following every 
movement of his liberator, executed his directions with 
alacrity and address. Never in the history of human 
mind, was exhibited a more sudden and complete revo- 
lution ; he executed every order with exactness ; and 
this patient, whose best years had been sacrificed in a 
gloomy cell, in chains and misery, soon showed himself 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 331 

capable of being one of the most useful persons about 
the establishment. He repeatedly, during the horrors 
of the Revolution, saved the life of his benefactor. On 
one occasion he encountered a band of 6 sans culottes/ 
who were bearing Pinel to the Lanterne, owing to his 
having been an elector in 1789. "With bold and deter- 
mined purpose he rescued his beloved master, and 
caused that life to be spared which had been so great 
a blessing to the insane in France. 

"In the third cell were three Prussian soldiers, who 
had been for many years in chains, but how or for 
what they had been committed, none knew; they were 
not dangerous, and seemed capable of enjoying the 
indulgence of living together. They were terrified at 
the preparations for their release, fearing new severities 
awaited them. Sunk into dementia, they were indif- 
ferent to the freedom offered. 

"An aged priest came next; he fancied himself to be 
the Messiah. Taunted once with the exclamation, that 
if in truth he was Christ he could break his chains, he 
answered with solemnity, — < Frustra tentas Dominum 
tuum!' Religious excitement had characterized his life. 
On foot he had made pilgrimages to Rome and Co- 
logne ; he had made a voyage to the Western world to 
convert savage tribes. This ruling idea passed into 
mania, and returning to France, he declared that he 
was Christ, the Saviour. He was arrested on the 
charge of blasphemy, and taken before the Archbishop 
of Paris, by whose decree he was consigned to the 
Bicetre, as either a blasphemer or a madman. Loaded 
with heavy chains, he for twelve years bore patiently, 
sarcasm and cruel sufferings. Pinel had the happiness 
to witness his recovery in less than a year, and to dis- 
charge him from the hospital, cured. 

" In the short period of a few days, Pinel released 
from their chains more than fifty maniacs, men of 
various ranks and conditions — merchants, lawyers, 



332 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

priests, soldiers, laborers — thus rendering the furious 
tractable, and creating peace and contentment, to a 
wonderful degree, where long the most hideous scenes 
of tumult and disorder had reigned." 

It was in 1796, only four years after Pinel's first ex- 
periment in the Bicetre, and entirely independently 
of any knowledge of his work, that a precisely similar 
reform was inaugurated in England — this time not by 
a physician, but by a member of the Society of Friends, 
William Tuke, a merchant of ample fortune and great 
benevolence and force of character. In building with 
his own means " The Retreat," at York, and retaining 
the absolute control of its policy in his own hands, he 
prepared a suitable place for a fair trial of the new 
method he proposed. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CHRISTIAN FRUITS. 

S. Grellet's experiences — Testimonies against war — Joseph. Hoag 
— True courage — Self sacrifice — "I might have saved one more" 
— The cattle train — The power of kindness — The sick baby. 

It is a very remarkable circumstance that war, which 
is radically opposed to the precepts of Christ, should 
have been admitted into the political systems of so- 
called Christian nations. The spirit which animates 
the inspirations " If thine enemy hunger feed him, if 
he thirst give him drink" never leads to kill, maim and 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 333 

destroy — in other words, Christ never enjoins us to do 
the work of his great enemy and ours. 

The extended travels of Stephen Grellet in Europe, 
in the early part of the present century, gave him many 
opportunities for observing the disastrous effects of war 
on the communities which were exposed to it. 

He was in France in 1808, and when at Bordeaux, 
made the following entry in his Journal : 

I have of late been greatly depressed on account of 
the condition of this nation ; the almost uninterrupted 
wars in which it has been involved for some years 
past, together with the oppressive system of the con- 
scription, have brought obvious desolation and dis- 
tress over the face of the country. In many places 
comparatively few men, besides those in public of- 
fices, are to be seen, except those maimed by the war, 
or the aged, so that females have to perform, out of 
doors, a great part of the laborious work that generally 
devolves upon men. My heart is also often made sad 
in beholding the bands of young conscripts, marching 
towards the army now preparing to invade Spain. 

Here, in Bordeaux, is a large number of handsome 
young men from Poland, of the first families of that 
nation, training for the new war. I have been with 
some of these young people, who appear to have re- 
ceived a religious, guarded education. How must their 
parents' hearts bleed to have them now thus circum- 
stanced ! Day and night my mind is turned towards 
Bonaparte. could I plead with him ! could I bring 
him to feel and see, as I do, the horror and misery he 
is accumulating upon man, and the vices and immo- 
ralities he causes poor, unwary youth to be involved 
in!" 

In 1812, near Stilton, in England, Stephen Grellet 



334 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

visited a body of about six thousand French prisoners 
of war; some of whom had been prisoners for nine 
years, and many had been brought up tenderly, even in 
affluence, having been conscripts that were forcibly 
taken from their homes; "bands of whom," he says. 
" I saw in France, fifty or more chained together, 
dragged as sheep to the slaughter." 

When in France the following year, at a time when 
an active conscription was going on to replace the 
army lost in Russia, he saw still more of its horrors. 
" My heart," he says, "has often been sorely rent when 
hearing the bitter lamentation of parents on parting 
with their last son, some stating that five or more of 
their children had perished in the wars, and now their 
last hope, in their advancing years, was taken away 
from them. I was much affected also when meeting on 
the road companies of poor youths, thirty to sixty, fast- 
ened two and two to a long chain, and marched off to 
the army; these being such as had manifested some 
reluctance in going there. How numerous are the 
distresses caused by war ! The catalogue of sin, im- 
morality, cruelty, bloodshed and misery that is entailed 
by it, is beyond description." 

The allusion to sin and immorality in the sentence 
just quoted is further enforced by a subsequent remark, 
that the few soldiers who had escaped being slain and 
had returned home, brought with them abundance of 
vice, which like subtle poison was diffused from them 
to those around them. 

Stephen Grellet was at Toulouse in the Xinth Month 
of 1813, a few days after a battle between the French 
and English armies; when such a number of wounded 
soldiers were brought into the city, and so numerous 
were the amputations, that in several places piles of 
legs and arms, like heaps of wood, were to be seen ; 
nevertheless, in the sight of all this, there were public 
diversions and great wantonness. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 335 

At Elberfeld, in Germany, the following year, his 
Journal says : " Through this part of the country many 
of the French troops passed on their retreat; desolation 
and destruction marked their steps, and as they were 
closely followed by the other armies, what had escaped 
the first destroyers fell a prey to the others ; wanton 
acts of destruction have been committed; furniture and 
other articles which they could not carry away, were 
broken to pieces. But these have been their minor 
sufferings. The inhabitants were under the necessity 
to send their wives and daughters away to conceal them 
from the soldiers, and in various instances, because 
they refused to disclose the places of their refuge, they 
w T ere sorely beaten, wounded, or even killed. It is also 
very lamentable that they received no better treatment 
from many who professed to be their friends than they 
did from the French, who treated them as enemies. 
Who that has seen the horrors of war, its accompany- 
ing cruelties and vices, can plead for it ? Or who that 
has only heard of the wickedness and misery that at- 
tends, but must bitterly deplore it ? From my observa- 
tions I may say, that the sight of the bloody field of 
battle conveys but one part, and perhaps the smallest 
part, of the woes and miseries that attend this horrible 
scourge." 

Stephen Grellet knew from his own observation 
somewhat of the corrupting character of military life. 
For when yet a minor, soon after the breaking ou^t of 
the French Revolution, he had joined the emigrant 
army who fought to restore the old regime. To this 
he refers in touching language when in the neighbor- 
hood of Frankfort, in 1814. Very distressing was it to 
meet with wagons loaded with the wounded soldiers, 
being carried from the field of battle, and to see their 
blood running clown from the wagons. " Very solemn," 
he says, " have been my feelings on the way, attended 
with reverent gratitude to the Lord, who has called me 



336 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

from darkness to light, and from the service of the 
prince of darkness to that of his glorious and blessed 
Gospel. Twenty-three years ago, I passed through 
these parts as a military character, in the same spirit 
that actuates those I am now among, who have been 
the means by which torrents of human blood have 
mixed with the waters of the Rhine. It is true that 
by the Lord's tender mercy I was preserved from the 
shedding of blood, but nevertheless, I abhor myself in 
the remembrance of the spirit by which I was then 
animated. O that I might be an instrument of induc- 
ing many now to come and range themselves under 
the standard of the Prmce of Peace ! May it not be in 
good measure for such a kind of service that the Lord 
has sent me into these nations at this time ? Day by 
day I have opportunities, at the inns particularly, to be 
with many officers, when the way is often made for me 
to preach Christ to them, and to unfold the nature of 
his kingdom, and the peaceableness of it. Though I 
have thus been very frequently engaged, I have once 
only met with an opposing spirit. It was at Frank- 
fort, from the military governor, saying what he would 
do if Friends were sent to him as soldiers, and should 
refuse to fight." 

The body of troops to which Stephen Grellet be- 
longed during the short period he remained in the army 
was at first sixteen thousand strong, but was so recruited 
from time to time, that they lost about fifty thousand 
men in that bloody war, and there was but a handful 
of them left at last. Such was the religious insensibility 
manifested by many of these soldiers, that whilst their 
advanced posts were so near those of the French Revo- 
lutionists that, though they could not see one another 
because of the darkness of the night, they could distin- 
guish the sound of their voices, and therefore spoke to 
oue another only in a whisper, yet even then they were 
so intent on card-playing that they did it by aid of 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 337 

gxOw-worms. These they held in one hand, and the 
cards in the other, now and then laying them aside to 
fire upon the enemy in the direction of their voices, 
whilst they were fired at in return. Though now and 
then some were killed, yet others would readily take 
their places and continue the game ! "Well might he 
exclaim, " 0, the cruelty the depravity, and the wick- 
edness that war brings with it ! It baffles all descrip- 
tion." 

As war is from its nature, opposed to the teachings 
of Christ, it is no marvel that wickedness should abound 
among those who are trained in military affairs, in a 
greater degree than is usually the case with those en- 
gaged in more peaceable pursuits. J. Backhouse says : 
" Everything I saw and heard at military posts tended 
to deepen my conviction that satan rules in the army." 
And Daniel Wheeler speaks of a ship of war in which 
he was stationed as a midshipman, as " a school which 
is not often equalled, and but seldom surpassed, for 
vice and immorality." And the writer of this received 
a letter, mailed on the first of Eleventh Month, 1887, 
from one who is a pastor of a religious society, but who 
was a captain in the recent civil war in the United 
States, which strongly confirms the same view. This 
letter says : " The suffering on the battle-field, and in 
camps, and the demoralization dependent thereon, 
added to the destruction of life in battle, by sickness, 
and in barbarous prisons, are not a tithe of the sum 
of the evils of war. The domestic demoralization 
attendant upon so many thousands leaving home, and 
triply so upon that society where the war is waged, 
can never be measured or estimated. The utter de- 
2^ 



338 FOOTPRINTS AXD W.AYMARKS. 

struetion of every virtue, and the culture of every vice 
and passion among non-combatants — male and female 
— inciting outlawry, destroying all regard for chastity 
and for the sacredness of home, the depravity among 
men and shamelessness among women engendered, — 
these are more to be dreaded than all destruction of 
health and life." 

The picture of my correspondent is painted in strong 
colors. He writes from observation, and he may have 
seen more depravity than came under the notice of 
some others ; but there are many witnesses who bear 
a somewhat similar testimony. It is no marvel there- 
fore, that when Stephen G-rellet was in Europe, in 1812, 
when war was raging on the Continent, and in the 
course of his visit he reached one of the towns of Eng- 
land, where weapons of war were largely manufactured, 
that his mind was brought keenly to feel. His Jour- 
nal of that period says : — 

When I came to Birmingham, I felt the exercise 
which had been upon me for a particular class of the 
inhabitants, greatly increased. I had overwhelming 
sorrow, also, because of the horrors of the war on the 
Continent, where torrents of blood flow. I felt as if I 
was among drawn swords and bayonets. Then deeply 
feeling the guilt of those who are the means of putting 
into the hands of the warriors the weapons of destruc- 
tion, it appeared to me that those who manufacture 
them are sharers in the guilt. I felt it was the Lord's 
requiring that I should have a meeting with as many 
of these as could be convened together; though at that 
time all those artificers were in full employ, extensive 
orders having been given for such weapons. After 
consulting with Friends, who most feelingly entered 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 339 

into my exercise, they endeavored to the utmost to 
promote my object. The large meeting-house of the 
Independents was considered the most eligible, being 
also central for those I wished most particularly to 
see. The minister of that congregation, a pious man, 
entered so fully into my religious concern, that he not 
only relinquished his usual service on First-day evening, 
but also spread the notice of my meeting at the close 
of his own in the forenoon. The concourse of people 
was very great, the house was crowded, and many re- 
mained out of doors. Awful and solemn was the 
weight that was on my mind on that occasion, and 
earnest was my secret prayer that the Lord would pre- 
vent the end, for which that multitude had been called 
together, from being frustrated ; the crowd in the 
house was so great, and those out of doors so numer- 
ous, that I feared the consequences. The all-gracious 
and powerful God was pleased, after a while, to bring 
that multitude, both in and out of doors, into silence, 
and to cause a Divine solemnity to spread over us. 
He gave strength and qualification through his Spirit, 
to proclaim what the Christian religion is, and what 
should be the manner of life and conversation of the 
professors of it. It leads, it calls to love and peace; it 
is pure and undefiled, and enables to bring forth the 
fruits of the Spirit. These were contrasted with the 
fruits of the flesh; and the cause of war was unfolded, 
in all its awful and dreadful consequences — misery, 
wasting and destruction. In these are deeply concerned 
those who give countenance, and are in anywise aux- 
iliary to it, as the manufacturers of arms and engines 
of destruction. I spread before them the consideration, 
whether a greater trust in Gocl, and love to Him and 
man, would not lead to the pursuit of a kind of business 
in which his blessing might be expected, and by which 
his glory might be promoted ; and if, as enjoined by 
our blessed Redeemer, we loved one another as He 



340 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

loved us, all our works and labor would not tend 
towards the advancement of his kingdom, and the 
coming of that day when men shall beat their swords 
into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks, 
and they shall learn war no more, nor fan the flame 
of it in anywise whatever. The meeting concluded in 
stillness; and the people separated in a frame of mind 
which gave some evidence, that the power of Truth 
had been felt by them. I felt great peace after that 
meeting, which closed with blessing, adoration and 
praise and prayers and intercessions offered at the 
throne of grace. 

In the year 1812, whilst Joseph Hoag was travelling 
in Tennessee he says: — " We stopped on our way at 
Knoxville, to take breakfast ; the Indians having made 
an invasion on the frontiers of the white inhabitants, it 
was a time of great alarm while I was there. Being 
taken into the room where the General was with his 
officers, the sergeants made their returns to the general, 
that they had warned every man that the law required 
to do military duty, Quakers, and all, and there had 
not one Quaker appeared on the ground. In the mean- 
time the General looked sharply at me, as I was walk- 
ing the room, and said, ' Well, we have lost a number 
of our frontier inhabitants, and some of our soldiers, 
and a people who would not defend the frontier 
inhabitants when the savages were destroying and 
scalping them, could not be considered friends to their 
country, and should have no favor from him.' He 
then said, 'How do you like this doctrine, stranger?' 
I said, ' It is no doctrine for me ; I have little or no 
opinion of it.' He asked, ' why ?' I said, ' The people 
with whom I commune, who are sound in their prin- 
ciples, are all King's men, and are remarkably attached 
to their King, and our King told Pontius Pilate that 
his Kingdom was not of this world, for if it was, then 
would his servants fight, that He should not be de- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 341 

livered to the Jews ; that his Kingdom was not from 
hence, and that his Kingdom was our Kingdom ; that 
He had nothing to fight for in this world, neither 
have we; and you warriors are fighting for riches, 
honor, and glory of this world, and when you have 
got them, you cannot stay with them. We choose 
to lay up our riches, and have our treasures where 
the rust cannot mar them, nor thieves nor warriors get 
them from us.' The General sat down, but soon rose 
with these words, ' I am not going to give up the 
argument so ; I see by the look of your eye that you 
are no coward ; you are a soldier, and if an Indian was 
to come into your house to kill your wife and children, 
you would fight.' I answered, 'As for cowardice, I 
ever despised it, but,' pointing towards the guns stand- 
ing in the house with bayonets on them, 'General, it 
would take twelve such men as thou art — and then you 
would not do it — to make me take hold of a gun or 
pistol, to take the life of a fellow creature,' and looked 
him full in the face. He said, ' I see you do not deny 
the sword.' I replied, ' No, I profess to be a swords- 
man, that is the weapon I go into the field with — a 
sword that was never beaten in the field nor foiled in 
battle.' He turned and sat clown, but not long, and 
said, ' I will bring you to the point. If an Indian was 
to come into your house with his knife and tomahawk, 
and you knew he would kill you, your wife, and chil- 
dren, and you knew you could kill him and save all 
your lives, you would kill him ; if you did not you 
would be guilty of the death of the whole.' I thought 
it time to come to look for a close, and proposed a 
standard to bring the argument to, that should decide 
it, but he declined. I then asked him if he professed 
to be a Christian, a Jew, or a Mahometan ? He de- 
clined awhile. I then added, if he were a Jew, he was 
not prepared to fight ; his men were not circumcised, 
lie had not burnt a sin offering, nor a peace offering. 



342 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

He excxaimed, ' I profess to be a Christian, I am not a 
Jew or a Turk.' I asked him if he believed Jesus 
Christ was the author of the Christian dispensation. 
He said, ' Yes.' I asked him if he believed Him suffi- 
ciently equal to the work as God himself, as he received 
all the works of God to do. He said ' he did.' I then 
told him I should keep him to the Christian platform 
or creed, laid down by Jesus Christ; and that he would 
not deny that a Christian was fit to live or die. I then 
told him I would give the subject a fair statement, and 
he might judge, I proceeded thus : ' I shall state, that 
myself and wife are true Christians, and our children 
are in the minority, and thou knowest it is natural for 
children to believe what their parents teach them, and 
therefore we are all true Christians as far as our several 
capacities enabled us to be: and now the question lies 
here; which is most like the precepts and example of 
our King — the author of the Christian religion — to lay 
down our lives, and all go to heaven together; or kill 
that wicked Indian and send him to .hell; for he must 
be in as wicked a state as he can be. to kill a family 
that would not hurt him. General, it is a serious thing 
to send wicked folks to hell ; they have no chance to 
come back and mend their ways; and thou dost not 
know but that if that wicked Indian was spared, he 
might feel remorse enough to make him repent, so as to 
find forgiveness, and go to heaven. I really believe I 
should feel much better to see him come there, than to 
send him to hell; and that is not all, General; when 
I killed that wicked Indian, and sent him to hell, I 
imbrued my hands in human blood; before they were 
clean; but now they are stained deep in the crimson 
gore, canst thou make thyself believe that I stand as 
good a chance to get to heaven, as to die when my 
hands were clean, and I innocent of human blood ? 
And besides our King who was Lord of all, had disci- 
ples and many women who looked up to Him for pro- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 343 

tection, as much as a wife to a husband, or children to 
their father. Did He, when the wicked Jews came 
out with staves to take Him, cut off those wicked 
creatures, and send them to hell, when He could have 
the command of twelve legions of angels ? He did not 
act without reason; He knew if he cut them off they 
would go to hell ; and He knew if He laid clown his 
life, He was going to heaven ; and neither thou nor I 
knows but some of the poor creatures repented of their 
conduct, and found forgiveness, and are now in heaven, 
glorifying his name for sparing them. Now General, 
was He guilty of suicide ? Thou wilt answer, He came 
into the world for this purpose ; I reply that we are 
brought into the world to obey his commands, and to 
follow his example, and do likewise if called on ; and 
General, we find He had one soldier among his fol- 
lowers who drew his sword and fought like a valiant 
for his Lord. But what then said his Lord ? did He 
say, thou art a good fellow, I will promote thee for 
this ? or, did He not say, put up thy sword into its 
sheath, for they that use the sword shall perish with the 
sword. General thou will do well to remember that 
saying ; it is the word of a King. The General made 
no answer, but sat and hung his head for some time, 
one of the company at length replied, * Well stranger, 
if all the world was of your mind, I would turn and 
follow after.' I replied, ' So then thou hast a mind to 
be the last man in the world to be good ; I have a mind 
to be one of the first, and set the rest the example.' 
This made the General smile. He got up and went 
out at the door, and ordered his officers to let me go 
where I pleased, and not to interfere ; then turned and 
came in, I was then walking the floor, and after a little 
discourse, the General said, ' Well stranger, there are 
a great many of your sort of people in this State.' I 
answered, ' Yes, and I hope thou finds them an honest, 
industrious, peaceable people; good inhabitants to 



344 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

populate and clear up a new country, and make it val- 
uable.' He said, ' Yes, they are an industrious harm- 
less people. We were both on our feet, I turned, and 
looked him full in the face, and spoke with some em- 
phasis, ' General, canst thou say that an honest, indus- 
trious people, who will harm nobody, are enemies to 
their country V He paused awhile, and said, ' No, and 
they shall have my protection, and you have the word 
of a General for it,' I then felt easy that all was done 
that could be done. I had the same man's word who 
had said, ' No favor should be shown the Quakers,' 
now pledge his honor to protect them." 

In the life of Dorothea L. Dix, the philanthropist, it 
is mentioned that a lady once said to her, "Are you not 
afraid to travel all over the country alone ; and have 
you not encountered dangers and been in perilous 
situations ? " 

" I am naturally timid," said she, " and diffident like 
all my sex; but in order to carry out my purposes I 
know that it is necessary to make sacrifices and en- 
counter dangers. It is true I have been, in my travels 
through the different States, in perilous situations. 
I will mention one which occurred in the State of 
Michigan. I had hired a carriage and driver to convey 
me some distance through an uninhabited part of the 
country. In starting I discovered that the driver, a 
young lad, had a pair of pistols with him. Inquiring 
what he was doing with arms, he said he carried them 
to protect us, as he had heard that robberies were 
committed on our road. I said to him, 'Give me the 
pistols; I will take care of them.' He did so reluct- 
antly. In pursuing our journey through a dismal- 
looking forest, a man rushed into the road, caught the 
horse by the bridle, and demanded my purse. I said 
to him, with as much self-possession as I could com- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 345 

mand, 'Are you not ashamed to rob a woman ? I have 
but little money, and that I want to defray my expenses 
in visiting prisons and poor-houses, and occasionally in 
giving to objects of charity. If you have been unfortu- 
nate, or in distress and in want of money, I will give 
you some.' While thus speaking to him I discovered 
his countenance changing, and he became deadly pale. 
He exclaimed, ' That voice ; ' and immediately told me 
that he had been in Philadelphia penitentiary, and had 
heard me lecturing to some of the prisoners in an ad- 
joining cell, and that he now recognized my voice. 
He then desired me to pass on, and expressed deep 
sorrow at the outrage he had committed. But I drew 
out my purse and said to him, 'I will give you some- 
thing to support you until you can get into honest 
employment.' He declined at first taking anything, 
until I insisted on his doing so, for fear he might be 
tempted to rob some one else before he could get into 
honest employment." 

In the life of Samuel Hobart, an engineer on the road 
between Boston and Worcester, are given some inter- 
esting instances of courage and self-possession exhibited 
by railroad engineers. 

A few years ago, Osborne, an engineer on the Morris 
and Essex Railroad for twenty years at least, was once 
delayed by snow on the track for several hours ; but 
received explicit orders from the superintendent " to 
go ahead," for the road was clear, no other train was 
on the track. After satisfying himself that he had not 
misunderstood the order, he left the summit on a steep 
down grade, and in rounding a sharp curve came on a 
train that was ascending the same grade under full 
head of steam. In an instant he whistled down the 
brakes and reversed his engine. The noble thing, 
::nder such a tremendous strain, as if fully aware of 



346 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

the danger, obeyed and threw itself hack to avert the 
catastrophe. Meanwhile the other engineer had done 
the same thing with his locomotive ; bat it was possible 
only to modify the shock. Together rushed those two 
panting and reluctant giants, their joint weight not less 
than sixty tons, with the gathered momentum of their 
following trains. They rose like two furious animals 
in fight, standing on end, and in a trice the two splen- 
did machines were in ruins. The cars behind them 
were also badly crushed. Osborne did not leap from 
his engine ; but never moving his hands from the lever 
which controlled it, he stood as resolute as a rock at 
his post until the shock came and then quick as thought 
adjusted his valves to allow the steam to escape without 
explosion. Man can furnish no clearer proof of the 
finest courage. 

During the war an incident occurred on the Pennsyl- 
vania Central. A regiment of soldiers was on a train, 
stopped by a freight-train off the track. It was in the 
night, and most of the thousand men were asleep. 
Four heavily loaded coal cars belonging to a train 
ahead had by accident become detached and had begun 
the descent from the summit toward Johnstown. The 
engineer heard the roar of the descending cars, and, 
surmising what was the matter, put on steam to meet 
the approaching line, if possible, to break its force and 
save the train. His locomotive was a large freight, and 
he had moved several rods ahead when the cars struck 
him like a thunderbolt and crushed his engine back on 
the train ; but his heroic courage had saved many lives. 
The man's name was Strong, and his grateful bene- 
ficiaries presented him some elegant silver-plate, with 
the deed itself and their names engraved on the pieces. 
When asked why he did not abandon his train, he 
replied, " Quick as lightning I thought I had better 
die than to have those runaway cars cut clean 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 347 

through the train destroying hundreds." It was an 
heroic answer. 

On the Marietta and Cincinnati' Railroad formerly 
were a number of trestle bridges. The funds were 
low. The men were not paid. A train with the direc- 
tors on board was going over it. A miscreant deter- 
mined to throw it off and kill them all. The engineer 
discovered the obstruction. He seemed to know in- 
stinctively that the momentum was too great to save 
the whole train, and he signaled the brakes down and 
reversed the engine — to stop, if possible, the cars before 
reaching the chasm. Then opening the throttle-valve 
his engine sprang forward so violently as to break the 
connection with the train, and dashed to the awful leap* 
The bold man as this was going on ran out of his win- 
dow on the engine and opened the escape-valve. While 
standing there the engine went over with him and, 
marvellous to relate, he, falling under the huge weight, 
was preserved from being crushed by the engine-bell 
at his side. The train for the rescue of which he had 
exhibited such incredible pluck, stopped just soon 
enough to escape the horrible leap after the engine. 

That the roll-call of heroes is constantly filling up 
was proved on Tenth Month 22, 1882, as a train com- 
posed of ten passenger cars containing over six hundred 
persons, passed through Bergen Cut, on the Pennsyl- 
vania Central, at the rate of thirty miles an hour. 
"Fire! Fire! " was shouted by conductor and passen- 
gers as a volume of smoke and fire suddenly burst 
through the open door of the smoking-car next to the 
tender. Great consternation instantly prevailed among 
the passengers of the crowded car. Their alarm be- 
came a panic when the fireman came clambering over 
the tender into the car and it was found that the train 
was dashing wildly on with the engine pouring forth 
flames which, if not promptly checked, must speedily 



348 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

involve all the car? in destruction. The speed of the 
train made it hopeless to think of escape by leaping off, 
and the passengers began to contemplate the possibility 
of death in one of the most horrible forms which the 
imagination could possibly conceive. 

"Shut the door! Shut the door!" was shouted. 
The door was closed, but almost immediately it flew 
open again, and the engineer and fireman emerged 
from the fire and smoke and stumbled into the car. 
The train dashed on with no one to govern the engine. 
Men rushed to the rear platform and there met a 
frightened crowd from the next car. Others raised 
windows only to realize at what speed the train was 
going, and to know that to jump out would be death. 
"Get to that closet.** shouted engineer Joseph A. Seeds 
to the fireman, pointing to the rear of the car, " and 
work the air-brakes.*' But the passage was blocked 
with passengers and the fireman found it impossible to 
make headway. 

" \That is going to be done?'" asked one, of the 
engineer. 

Seeds made no reply. There was no time to talk. 
Action was now the imperative necessity. See him. 
He is well. He is in the prime of life. In face and 
form he has a comely appearance. All is forgotten. 
The lives of six hundred passengers are in his hands. 
He must dare death that they may have life. He does 
not hesitate, but plunging into the seething sea of fire 
he climbs upon the tender and disappears. The flames 
originated from the - k blow-back * ; on the engine, forcing 
the flames out of the furnace when the door was opened. 
Seeds must go through the flames to reach the air- 
brake and the throttle-valve. He went through. He 
reached the throttle-valve and with burning hand 
pulled the '•air-brake" and reversed the engine. He 
knew that whatever came to him, the train would stop 
and its precious load be saved. Xearly a minute passed 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 349 

and then the train came to a stop on the bridge over 
the Iiackensack River, and all knew that ,the brave 
man had put on the u air-brake" and reversed the 
engine. This done, he tried to save himself; ran back 
to the tender, lifted the lid off the water-tank, and 
leaped in. 

In the meantime the peril was past. The passengers, 
wild with delight, began to Wonder what had befallen 
the engineer. Rushing forward to the engine they 
found that the cab was still enveloped in flames, while 
the head and shoulders of a man appeared above the 
water-tank on the tender. They sprang to drag him 
out. They found him weak and half unconscious. 
His clothes were completely burned from him. His 
face was disfigured and his hands were shockingly 
burned. His body was blistered so badly that some 
of the flesh stripped off in moving him. Tenderly they 
cared for him. To the Jersey City Hospital they bore 
him, and there he died four days afterward. No 
wonder that little children and mothers and friends 
united in contributing money to create a fund for 
his family in Philadelphia. Such heroism deserves to 
be rewarded. 

Our admiration for acts of kindness increases in pro- 
portion to the sacrifice which they require of the 
actors. From this point of view, the following incident 
is peculiarly touching : 

David Ker tells of a ship foundering at sea, when all 
on board were driven to the boat as their only hope of 
escape from going down with the sinking vessel : 

" Stand by to lower the boat !" shouted the captain ; 
and then he muttered gloomily to himself, — " It's our 
only chance now." 

It was, indeed. For three days the French brig St. 
Pierre, homeward bound from the Isle of Bourbon, had 



350 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

fought against as fierce a gale as ever swept around the 
Cape of Good Hope. Captain and crew had done all 
that men could do to save the ship, but in vain. Their 
only chance now was in taking to the one boat that the 
storm had left them. As Captain Pi card turned around 
from giving his orders he found himself face to face 
with a pale, delicate-looking lady in deep mourning, 
who had just come up the after-hatchway with a little 
boy in her arms. 

Poor woman, she might well look worn and sad. 
Her husband had gone home an invalid ; her only daugh- 
ter had died a few weeks before ; and now, just as there 
seemed a chance of her seeing home and friends once 
more, death in its worst forms was hovering over her- 
self. 

Captain Picard broke to her as gently as possible the 
fatal news that the ship was sinking, and that their 
only hope was to take to the sea in a small boaU At 
this announcement the poor mother's sickly face grew 
paler still, and she pressed the child convulsively in her 
arms. 

" Ma'amselle, no fear," said a huge Senegal negro, 
emerging from the hatchway at that moment; "old 
Achille and Pierrot take care of her and Henry, too — 
Henri, come to Achille." 

He took the child in his arms as he spoke, while a 
second negro came up to help the captain in lowering 
the woman into the boat, which was so fiercely tossed 
by the surging waves that it was no easy matter to 
reach it. At fast the boat was full, and they shoved 
off. Hardly had they got clear of the ship when she 
gave a violent roil, plunged forward, rose again, and 
then, with a sound like distant thunder, the in-rushing 
water blew up the decks, and down went the doomed 
ship, head foremost. 

But those in the overloaded boat soon found that they 
had only exchanged one danger for another. The huge 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 351 

waves that broke over her ever} 7 moment, drenching 
them all to the skin, filled the boat faster than they 
could bale her out; and crowded together as the sailors 
were, they had no room either to row or make sail. 
The sailors whispered together and looked gloomily at 
the lady and her party, and at last one was heard to 
mutter : 

" Better get rid of them that can't work than of them 
that can, anyhow." 

" Our lives are as precious to us as theirs are to them," 
said another. " If the boat's got to be lightened, they're 
the ones to go." 

Several sailors were already on their feet to fling the 
helpless mother and child overboard, when two gigan- 
tic negroes stepped between. 

" You want to lighten the boat ? Black men heavier 
than white lady. Let Madam and Henri live, I and 
Pierrot jump overboard !" It was all over in a moment. 
Merely saying good-bye, they plunged headlong into 
the sea. 

The heroic sacrifice was not made in vain. The boat 
thus lightened could be more easily managed, while the 
gale at length began to show signs of abating. On the 
following afternoon they were seen and picked up by 
an English schooner, and a few weeks more saw the 
wife safe with her husband at Lyons. 

But the negroes had not been drowned. They chanced 
to find a spar of the ship and to this they clung until 
they were picked up. Suffice it to say, that after hunt- 
ing for their mistress a long time, they at length found 
her in Lyons, and it is unnecessary to say that they 
were the best cared for servants in the south of France." 

A writer in The Presbyterian speaks of a friend, who 
manifested unflagging zeal in the work of Christ, 
and who explained his earnestness by the following 
incident : — 



352 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

As soon as college closed in the summer of 188 — 
my classmate. John Marsh, and I went to a little 
Canadian village on the shores of one of the Great 
Lakes, to spend part of the vacation. 

One night there came up a severe storm, such as is 
seldom seen in that locality, and particularly at that 
season. The waves on the lake seemed to rise almost 
mountain-high, the wind howled, and rain came down 
literally in sheets. Every now and then could he heard, 
through the storm, the crash of a fallen tree, or of some 
building being overturned. 

In the midst of the storm news came that there was 
a vessel, only a short distance from land, signalling for 
help, and evidently in great distress. Hastening down 
to the wharf, we found quite a crowd of villagers 
already assembled. By the flashes of lightning we 
could see the vessel, hardly three hundred yards from 
where we were standing, evidently not able to hold 
together much longer in that furious sea. 

John Marsh knew as much about the sea as an ex- 
perienced sailor, and I knew that he was not the man 
to stand by and let those poor creatures on the vessel 
drown without making some effort to save them. One 
or two of the Canadian fishermen volunteered to go 
with him. and. after almost superhuman effort, they 
succeeded in launching a boat right side up. 

It seemed almost impossible for the frail little fishing 
boat to float ten minutes in such a sea: but strength 
and skill carried her safely through the waves and out 
to the sinking vessel. John and his crew could only 
bring off four men at a time, and then the utmost care 
was required to bring rescuers and rescued safe to 
shore. Thev made two trips, and were returning for 
the rest of the vessel's crew — three men, I believe — 
when the vessel seemed to give a sudden lurch, and 
went down forever. 

AVhen the rescuing party returned once more to land 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 353 

John Marsh was lying in the bottom of the boat. 
Loving hands lifted him carefully, and loving hearts 
did every thing possible for him, but to no avail. He 
did not seem to feel any fear, although he knew that 
he had broken a blood-vessel, and was bleeding to 
death, a painless death, but swift and certain. All 
night long I watched by his bedside, and he was per- 
fectly conscious to the last. Over and over again he 
kept saying, " I might have done better ! I might have 
saved one more ! God forgive me ! I can hear those 
poor fellows calling to us, praying to us to come back 
and save them, but now it is too late, too late forever, 
and I might have saved at least one more." 

As long as I live, that wail of anguish, of self-con- 
demnation will haunt me. " I might have saved one 
more ; God forgive me ! " He seemed to lose sight of 
the men he had saved, of his own condition, of every 
thing but those who were lost. 

About daybreak he died — my strong, kindly friend, 
and down to the very gates of eternity he carried his 
burden of remorse. 

Never a day passes that the scene does not come 
back to me. It seems as if he had left me a legacy 
of anxiety for the salvation of others. He strove to 
preserve men from bodily death; I, from eternal. It 
seems to me that the day is always before me when the 
Master will call for an account of my stewardship; and, 
O ! the horror of the thought that perhaps I may have 
nothing to bring Him, only idle years and wasted 
opportunity to lay at his feet ! " 

The following incidents furnish additional illustra- 
tions of the blessing that attends kind actions. 

Somewhere above Fitchburg, as we stopped for 
twenty minutes at a station, I amused myself by look- 
ing out of a window at a water-fall which came tum- 

23 



354 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

bling over the rocks, and spread into a wide pool that 
flowed up to the railway. Close by stood a cattle train ; 
and the mournful sounds that came from it touched 
my heart. 

Full in the hot sun stood the cars ; and every crevice 
of room between the bars across the doorways was 
filled with pathetic noses, sniffing eagerly at the sultry 
gusts that blew by, with now and then a fresher breath 
from the pool that lay dimpling before them. How 
they must have suffered, in sight of water, with the cool 
dash of the fall tantalizing them, and not a drop to wet 
their poor parched mouths. 

The cattle lowed dismally, and the sheep tumbled 
one over the other, in their frantic attempts to reach 
the blessed air, bleating so plaintively the while that 
I was tempted to go out and see what I could do for 
them. But the time was nearly up; and, while I hesi- 
tated, two little girls appeared, and did the kind deed 
better than I could have clone it. 

I could not hear what they said; but as they worked 
away so heartily, their little tanned faces grew lovely 
to me, in spite of their old hats, their bare feet, and 
their shabby gowns. One pulled off her apron, spread 
it on the grass, and, emptying upon it the berries from 
her pail, ran to the pool and returned with it dripping, 
to hold it up to the suffering sheep, who stretched their 
hot tongues gratefully to meet it, and lapped the pre- 
cious water with an eagerness that made the little Bare- 
foot's task a hard one. 

But to and fro she ran, never tired, though the small 
pail was soon empty ; and her friend meanwhile pulled 
great handful s of clover and grass for the cows, and, 
having no pail, filled her "picking dish" with water 
to throw on the poor dusty noses appealing to her 
through the bars. I wish I could have told those 
tender-hearted children how beautiful their compassion 
made that hot, noisy place, and what a sweet pic- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 355 

ture I took away with me of those two little sisters 
of charity. 

"What a dull, dreary day! " How many times these 
words had been spoken, and how plainly were they 
expressed on the faces of the dozen passengers that 
afternoon. We were to change cars at this place, hut 
on our arrival found that the train was two hours late, 
so there was no alternative but to wait. 

It was a cold, rainy day; the streets were filled with 
mud, and a chilliness and gloom seemed reigning 
everywhere, even in the hearts and actions of the wait- 
ing passengers. ~No one seemed inclined to talk, so 
there we sat, with long, sober faces, thinking what a 
dull, dreary day. 

While we thus sat waiting, an old man entered the 
room, carrying in one hand a cane to support his feeble 
body, and in the other a basket filled with sundry arti- 
cles for sale. 

He approached the passengers, one by one, com- 
mending the usefulness, durability and cheapness of his 
goods, but no sale did he make. One said that he had 
no use for such things ; another that she was well 
-supplied already; another that he did not care to be 
bothered with such articles while travelling; and so 
on, until the entire circuit was made. And the 
manner of each one seemed to say to the old man 
that such an intrusion on his part was very unwel- 
come. 

He had turned away, and was leaving the room, 
when a lady, almost unnoticed before, approached him 
from a remote corner where she had been reading, and 
desired to look at his goods. She first invited him to 
a comfortable seat, and then selected one after another 
of the useful little articles, until five or six had been 
stored away in her satchel. 

In paying for her purchases the exact change could 



356 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

not be made, and several cents were due her, but she- 
told him not to trouble himself to get so small an 
amount, the goods were cheap, and well worth the 
money she had paid for them. The old man's face 
brightened up during this transaction, and he expressed 
his gratitude by saying : — 

"I thank you, ma'am, with all my heart, for this 
little trade. Business don't amount to much such a 
day as this, but I have to keep working all the harder, 
for you see we get hungry this kind o' weather, as well 
as when the sun shines. 'Twas so wet and muddy 
that I didn't go home to dinner to-day, and trade was 
so dull I couldn't 'ford to buy any; but 'twill be all 
right now, for I'll go home an hour earlier to- 
night." 

He was again about to start off, when the lady asked 
him if he would not remain seated by the stove a few 
minutes, until her return. She then repaired to a lunch 
room connected with the depot, and soon came back 
with a nice lunch and a steaming cup of coffee, and 
asked the old man if he would not like a little refresh- 
ment before starting out in the cold rain. 

What a look of honest surprise and gratitude beamed 
in his face ! He thanked her quietly, for he seemed too 
deeply touched by her kindness to say much, and ate 
the luncheon with a hearty relish. When he had 
finished he approached where the lady was sitting, 
and said : — 

"You may be sure I won't forget your kindness, 
ma'am. It's not often that any one takes any notice 
of a poor old man like me; and your kindness has 
warmed up the feelings of ni3 r heart as the coffee did 
my body. Good day; and may God bless you all the 
days of your life ! " 

The little group of passengers had been silent wit- 
nesses of the scene ; and, as the old man turned to go r 
a gentleman stopped him, saying he would like one of 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS 357 

his picture books for his little boy. But his purchase 
extended to several articles, and some of the others 
who had before refused to purchase, now bought quite 
liberally. 

After thanking his customers, the old man went his 
way, much gratified by their liberality. 

What a change had come over that room ! If a sun- 
beam had burst through the dark, lowering clouds, the 
effect could not have been greater. The lady, who was 
plain in her dress and retired in manner, resumed her 
seat in the remote corner. 

The gentleman who had bought the picture book 
approached her and said : 

" We are strangers, but I want to thank you for the 
good your little sermon has done me." 

She looked at him in surprise, as she asked : 

"My little sermon, did you say sir?" 

"Yes. I am a minister, and have preached many 
years, and should be very glad to know that one of my 
sermons ever did the good that your act of kindness 
has done." 

The lady modestly replied that she had done no more 
than obey the golden rule. 

The mental clouds had dispersed by this time, and 
a friendly conversation sprang up among the pas- 
sengers. 

, The time of waiting, that had commenced so gloomily, 
passed away in the most pleasant manner, and we all 
felt that it was due to the power of one little act of 
kindness. 

In Youth's Companion the following incident is re- 
lated : 

It was the day express train on one of the great trunk 
lines of railway in the Middle States, rilled as usual 
with through passengers. They sat for the most part 
silent, each absorbed in his own thoughts. There were 



358 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

two great railway magnates, on their way to New York 
to consult about a " deal;" there were commercial trav- 
ellers with their canvas valises beside them ; there were 
merchants, lawyers, farmers, glancing over their note- 
books, reading the papers, dozing; there was a richly 
dressed, supercilious-looking woman, who, with her 
child and maid, sat a little apart from the rest ; there 
were chattering, giddy school girls, an old negro 
"aunty," and asleep at the back of the car a bloated, 
shabby old man, smelling of whiskey. These people, 
gathered out of all classes, had no intercourse ; they 
looked askance and indifferently at each other. 

The train, with a shriek and a jar, came to a full 
stop in the midst of the mountains. For a few r minutes 
the passengers sat undisturbed, with the calm faith of 
the American in the power of officials to set all things 
right. As the train continued stationary, however, one 
man after another went out. 

They returned with the tidings that a bridge had 
given way, and that the train would be detained for 
twelve or fifteen hours. 

There was a general outcry of annoyance and vexa- 
tion. It was near noon, everyone wanted luncheon. 
Each man insisted that his business was urgent and 
could not be delayed. One little woman in the corner, 
with a baby in her arms, began to weep unnoticed. The 
other women complained more or less loudly. For a 
few minutes every face was clouded, and the car was 
filled with a babel of angry voices. Presently some- 
body noticed the mother crying over her child, and 
spoke to her. 

" 0, my baby !" she sobbed. " It is sick, and I hoped 
to get home in an hour ! I think it is dying!" 

There was a startled silence. Then an elderly gen- 
tleman at the back of the car came forward. "I am a 
physician," he said. " Let me see the child." 

It was dangerously ill, and in need of active treat- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 359 

ment. The haughty womau who had hitherto held 
herself aloof was the first to speak ; she had a box of 
mustard plasters in her satchel, and she tore up her 
fine handkerchiefs for bandages. The old negro woman 
quietly went out, kindled a fire on the roadside, and 
heated some water to give the child a hot bath. 

One man knelt and chafed its feet; another made a 
bed for it with shawls. The porter brought pillows ; a 
Hebrew drummer produced from his bag a bottle of 
laudanum, for which the doctor expressed a wish, and 
even the poor drunkard at the back of the car urged his 
flask of brandy on the mother, as being " a first-rate 
medicine, ma'am." He looked at the child for a minute 
and turned away. " I'm a poor loafer," he said, "but 
I kin feel for the baby as much as any of you." 

In the course of three or four hours the child was re- 
lieved, and fell into a sweet sleep. But before that 
time the passengers in the car had all become its nurses 
and kinsfolk. When it was out of danger, and lying 
calmly in its mother's arms, they went out to the grassy 
bank by the side of the river, and improvised a picnic. 

Some of the men had found a farm-house a mile or 
two away, and brought bread and ham ; a few of the 
other passengers opened their satchels and produced 
some dainty morsel. The Jew had potted chicken ; a 
Presbyterian minister, oranges ; a farmer passing had 
cheese. There was but a little of each article as it w T as 
handed around, but there was abundance of good-will. 

When, late in the evening, the engine puffed and 
whistled, and the conductor shouted "All aboard ! " a 
company of friendly companions crowded into the car, 
and when they parted, a few hours later, it was with 
many hearty hand-shakes and a general exchange of 
good wishes. 

" What good, kindly folks they all were !" said the 
little mother. " But I believe if it had not been for my 



360 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

sick baby they would never have found each other 
out!" 

We are apt to forget that pain and sickness are keys 
to unlock the hearts of men toward each other. The 
happy, prosperous man rarely knows of the depth of 
tenderness which lies in his brother's bosom, ready to 
meet his call of need. 



CHAPTER VII. 

DENYING WORLDLY LUSTS. 

Tobacco — Edward Wright — John B. Gough — Loveday Henwood 
The pint of ale — Enough to do without dancing — Neal Dow — 
Samuel Hobart — Breaking the jug — The village tavern — David 
Ferris — A sad group — The wise fisherman — Gambling — The 
forging broker — Temptations resisted — J. G. Paton and Austra- 
lian sacred things — William Taylor on the universality of Divine 
love — Deaf and dumb missionary — Elizabeth Fry on fashionable 
amusements — J. B. Gough on the theatre — The converted actor. 

The Grace of God which bringeth salvation, the 
Apostle says, teaches us to deny ungodliness and 
worldly lusts. He found it necessary for himself to 
curb his appetites, and bring them into subjection to 
the government of Christ ; and such is the experience 
of all those who are truly in earnest in seeking a heav- 
enly kingdom. Those who enlist under the banner 
of Christ find that the}' can no longer indulge them- 
selves in whatever their appetites and desires may 
prompt; but that all must be brought into subjection 
to his will. Especially does this apply to the indul- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 361 

gence in those stimulants which so affect the system, 
that those using them become almost incapable of 
doing without them. Many who have been in the use 
of such substances, and have afterwards come under 
the dominion of Grace, have felt the force of the ex- 
hortation, "Ye are not your own, but ye are bought 
with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body and 
in your spirit, which are God's ; " and have been con- 
vinced that they were not glorifying God by using 
drugs which were impairing the health of their bodies, 
or otherwise lessening their ability to be useful in the 
church and in the world. 

In the narrative of Edward Wright, a reformed thief 
of London, it is stated that " all his life he had been a 
terrible smoker. Early in the morning, before, and 
after all his meals ; going to and returning from his 
work, in the evening and at night, he might have been 
seen with his pipe. He took it to bed, and sometimes 
fell asleep with it in his mouth, and if he awoke during 
the night he would at once relight his pipe. And after 
his conversion he still remained for a while the slave 
of his old propensity." 

Several of his friends advised him to leave off the 
habit of smoking; and he tried to adopt their advice. 
But the roots of the habit were deep; and although he 
abstained on one occasion for a week, he resumed it 
again. At another time he denied himself for about 
six weeks, when, coming home one night, he passed a 
man who was smoking a Havana cigar. The smell 
was delightful ; and the craving came stronger than 
ever. So "he reasoned that perhaps smoking was not 
wrong, it had a soothing influence over him, and many 
good men had been smokers. The result of his reason- 
ing, and dallying with temptation was, that if he found 



362 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

a tobacco shop open between the place where he was 
and his own house, he would have a smoke ; but if he 
could not find one, he would regard it as an intimation 
that it was a forbidden pleasure ! Having so far devi- 
ated from the path of simple obedience to the impres- 
sions of duty as to set up an unwarranted test of this 
kind, it was not surprising that he went still further 
astray, and did not honestly observe even his own pre- 
vious conclusion. For, he found all the shops on his 
road home were shut; but on the plea that he had not 
reached home, he diverged and went through what is 
called the " New Cut" where he knew there would be 
plenty of tobacco shops open ; and there he obtained 
tobacco and a pipe. 

Instead of retiring to rest, he sat in his humble gar- 
den summer-house, smoking his pipe, and surveying 
the star-bespangled heavens. But his wife was filled 
with apprehensions lest this habit should lead to others 
which were worse. She concluded that it was safer for 
her husband to abstain altogether from tobacco ; and, 
in her anxiety for his welfare, she earnestly prayed that 
God would cause the pipe to turn his stomach, that he 
might be disgusted with it. At length Edward turned 
in-doors, complaining that he was inclined to vomit. 
" Thank G-od for that," replied his wife ; " for I have 
been praying this last hour to cause that pipe to turn 
your stomach. Oh, Ned, you are surely taking a wrong 
step in resuming that pipe. You have given up all for 
Jesus, and now you have gone back to one of your old 
habits, so connected with our past unhappiness and 
misery. I am sure you have not asked God to bless 
the pipe to your benefit and his glory." 

The result was that E. Wright became convinced 
that smoking was wrong for him, and abandoned it 
altogether. 

John B. Gough, the celebrated lecturer on Temper- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMAKKS. 363 

ance, mentions the manner in which he was induced to 
give up the use of tobacco. He was then in England 
lecturing, and was the guest of a member of Parlia- 
ment, who resided at Worcester. After dinner, J. B. 
Gough strolled out of sight of the house, took out his 
cigars and matches and proceeded to light a cigar. 
The wind blew out one match after another, and even 
taking off his hat to shield them from the wind was of 
no avail. He then knelt down close to a rock to 
secure his object. What followed is thus related by 
himself: — 

Now, I never go on my knees, but I am reminded 
of prayer, and the thought came, " If any one should 
see me, they would probably think that some man had 
sought that retired spot for private devotion, and that 
he was saying his prayers ; and what am I doing ? I 
am sucking away at a cigar, hoping to obtain fire 
enough from the match to get a smoke. What would 
the audience say who heard me last night, should they 
see me now?" The inconsistency of my practice with 
my profession struck me so forcibly, that I said, " I'll 
have no more of it." I rose from my knees, took 
cigar and matches, and threw them into the river; 
and I never touched a cigar to smoke for eighteen 
years. 

In the account preserved of Loveday Henwood, a 
pious woman, who resided in Cornwall, England, and 
who at that time was a member with the Methodists, 
it is stated that at one time her mind was perplexed 
with doubts, and not keeping close to her Heavenly 
Guide, she was in danger of fainting in her spiritual 
journey. While in this state she had a severe attack 
of toothache, for which she was advised to smoke 
tobacco. It gave her relief, and she repeated it when- 



364 FOOTPRINTS AND WATMARKS. 

ever the attacks came on. Thus she fell into the habit, 
of which she says, "I found it took off my attention 
from a great deal of unpleasant feeling and restless in- 
quietude which I felt within, from having negligently 
ceased to persevere in the path of Divine life. I con- 
tinued this foolish indulgence for some years, much to 
the hurt of my soul and body. This simple thing, as 
some may call it, was a curse to me, inasmuch as it was 
a barrier between me and my God. It was an indul- 
gence and gratification of the flesh, and often when 
I have taken the pipe to smoke, the judgment of the 
Lord has arisen in my soul." 

This practice caused her much sorrow and trouble 
before she was able to break the chains in which it had 
enslaved her, but at length, being fully convinced that 
it was injurious to the body and also to the mind, by 
diverting her from seeking to the only source of true 
comfort and support under trouble, she was strength- 
ened of the Lord to give it up entirely. 

A Manchester calico printer was, on his wedding 
day, persuaded by his wife to allow her two half-pints 
of ale a day as her share. He rather winced under the 
bargain, for though a drinker himself, he would have 
preferred a perfectly sober wife. They both worked 
hard ; and he was seldom out of the public house as 
soon as the factory closed. The wife and husband saw 
little of each other, except at breakfast; but as she 
kept things tidy about her, and made the small sum 
which he allowed her for housekeeping meet the de- 
mands upon her, he never complained. She had her 
daily pint; and he perhaps had his two or three quarts; 
and neither interfered with the other, except that at 
odd times she succeeded, by one little gentle artifice or 
another, to win him home an hour or two earlier at 
night, and now and then to spend an entire evening in 
his own house. But these were rare occasions. They 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 365 

bad been married a year; and on tbe morning of tbe 
anniversary of tbeir wedding-day the husband, looked 
askance at her neat and comely person with some shade 
of remorse as he observed, " Mary, we have had no 
holiday since we were wed ; and only that I have not 
a penny in the world, we would take a jaunt to the 
village to see your mother !" " Would you like to go, 
John ?" asked she, softly, between a smile and a tear, 
to hear him speak so kindly, as in old' times : " If you 
would like to go, John, I will stand treat !" " Thou 
stand treat!" said he, with half a sneer; "hast got a 
fortune, wench ?" " No," said she, " but I have got 
the pint of ale." " Got \ohat?" said he. "The pint 
of ale," was the reply." John did not understand her 
till the faithful creature reached down an old stocking 
from under a loose brick up the chimney, and counting- 
out her daily pint of ale, in the shape of three hundred 
and sixty-five threepences, put £4 lis. 3d. into his 
hand, exclaiming, "You shall have the holiday, John." 
John was ashamed, astonished, conscience-smitten and 
charmed. He would not touch it, but said, " Have you 
not had your share? Then I will have no more." They 
kept their wedding-day with the old dame ; and the 
wife's little capital was the nucleus of a series of invest- 
ments that ultimately swelled into a shop, factory, 
warehouse, country-seat. 

The Wesley an Advocate relates the following : — 
A young bride of high social position having just 
moved to the city, where her husband lived, was called 
upon by one of the leading ladies of a fashionable 
dancing club, and formally invited to attend its dances, 
as an introduction into the society of her new 4 home. 
With beautiful candor and great firmness she thanked 
the lady and those she represented for their courtesy ; 
but she said : 

" I am a Christian — and when I was converted I 



366 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

promised the Lord to abandon the dance and devote 
myself to bis service. Besides, my husband is irreli- 
gious and his soul's salvation will depend upon my life. 
I must work to win him. Then, I dare say, I can find 
much to do in this city in visiting the poor and the 
sick, so that I will find employment without going to 
dances." 

That young wife astounded her worldly-minded vis- 
itor, who remarked, after leaving the home, " I felt as 
if I had committed a great sin." 

.N eal Dow, in the form of a conversation with a fellow- 
traveller, explains in a very clear manner the nature of 
the satisfaction derived from smoking tobacco by thou 
who have acquired the habit. He says : — 

My new friend and I were no sooner started on our 
little journey, than he took a cigar-case from his pocket 
and said : 

" Will you have a cigar?" 

" No, thanks ; I never smoke nor use tobacco in any 
way. That part of my education was neglected." 

"But it is a very great pleasure to smoke; I could 
not get on without it." 

"In what does the pleasure really consist?" 

"Well, after eating, a good cigar is a greater pleas- 
ure even than a good dinner to a hungry man."' 

" But I wish to know in what the ' pleasure' con- 
sists. We have just had a good dinner. I am perfectly 
satisfied and comfortable. I cannot think of anything 
to eat or drink that I should like. But you want your 
cigar, and if you could not have one, wouldn't you be 
uncomfortable ?" 

" Yes, I confess that I should." 

" Would you be very uncomfortable ?" 

"Yes, I acknowledge that I should be so." 

" Pray excuse me for pressing the matter, because I 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMAHKS. 367 

am realty anxious to ascertain, as accurately as I can, 
whether any real pleasure comes from tobacco — a pleas- 
ure that a sensible man need not be ashamed of. No 
man likes comfort, real, downright comfort better than 
I do. I greatly enjoy suitable and intelligent pleasure. 
Now, if I were to allow myself to be influenced by your 
example, so as to have a share of the pleasure you speak 
of, what would happen ? I could not smoke freely at 
once, I suppose, as you do now?" 

" You must learn to smoke by slow degrees." 

" During this process of learning I suppose I should 
be very sick ?" 

" Yes, of course you would be sick." 

" Very sick, I suppose. I have heard it said there 
would be deathly nausea at the stomach, and violent, 
prolonged vomiting, with a cracking, snapping head- 
ache ? Is that a fair description of what I should suf- 
fer?" 

" Probably; but all beginners do not suffer so much." 
" Yes, I understand that ; there are differences in phy- 
sical constitutions. And besides that, some children 
are saturated with tobacco smoke ; they live in a to- 
bacco atmosphere, so that they would not suffer so 
much in learning to use tobacco in any way. But, as 
a rule, people learning to use tobacco are dreadfully 
sick and suffer very much." 

" Yes, as a rule they do. I did." 

" For how long a time does this suffering continue?" 

" That varies in different persons. I was sick for 
about four weeks. That's the average time. Some 
people suffer less and some more, and some persons 
cannot learn to use tobacco ; they are always sick if 
they touch it." 

" Yes, that corresponds with what I've often heard. 
But now, suppose I've fully made up my mind to learn 
to smoke, so as to have my share of the ' pleasure,' the 
i comfort' coming from it. I have great powers of en- 



368 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

durance ; I sit down to my task as in a dentist's chair 
to have all my teeth pulled out. I don't flinch, but 
endure heroically the torture of the dreadful nausea, 
the retching and violent vomiting, and the crashing 
headache. My lips are livid, my face has the pallor, 
the anguish of a painful agony. You stand by to keep 
my courage up. ' Don't be afraid,' you say, ' you'll not 
die. I've been through it all, and more. For all this 
suffering and anguish you'll be rewarded many fold in 
the pleasure and comfort of smoking.' Would you say 
all that to encourage me ?" 

There was a pause. He didn't answer at first. Then 
he said, " I've never thought of it in that way. I do 
not think I should encourage you, or even stand by the 
bedside of any one learning to use tobacco and encour- 
age him to persevere." Laughing heartily. " I never 
thought of the ridiculous, absurd figure a man makes 
in learning to use tobacco. In fact, men never acquire 
the habit, and then very rarely, and then under excep- 
tional circumstances. It's boys who learn, because they 
think it smart and manly to use tobacco. They steal 
away into secret places; they hide behind the barn, or 
creep under the wood-shed, out of sight, because they're 
ashamed, and there they smoke and vomit. That's the 
way in which ninety-nine of every hundred tobacco- 
users acquire the habit." 

" But to come back to myself. I do not nauseate 
now, or but very little. I've conquered that, but I have 
no desire whatever for a cigar. I can smoke one with- 
out being sick, but I would not touch one but for the 
example of others. Isn't that exactly what would hap- 
pen ?" 

" Yes, that was precisely my case." 

" But I persist in smoking, and by-and-by it becomes 
a necessity, because if I omit the customary cigar I 
should suffer. After a vear or two of the tobacco habit 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 369 

I should suffer very much if I could not have my 
cigar." 

" Yes, that is a fair statement of the case." 

" Then, in short, I continue the tobacco habit only 
to avoid the intense suffering which would otherwise 
torment me. The ' pleasure,' the ' comfort' coming 
from the tobacco habit is this — only this, and nothing 
more — it wards off' pain." 

" I've never heard the matter put in that way before, 
but I must confess that that is the whole of it. If I 
cannot have my cigar I suffer ; while I am smoking the 
pain is relieved, and, in fact, that is all the pleasure 
that comes from smoke." 

Upon the whole, then, I do not think I shall learn 
to use tobacco ! to acquire a habit which is very costly, 
which makes one offensive to many people — a habit 
which unmans one so far that he feels himself under a 
bondage which he cannot throw off without an effort 
that few men find themselves equal to. 

Sam Hobart was a railroad engineer on the Boston 
and Albany Railroad, and an earnest Christian, who 
worked in the temperance cause and opposed the use 
of tobacco, which he believed often led those who used 
it into other evils. In his life the following incident is 
related : 

On one occasion when in Vermont, he was welcomed 
by a minister whose mouth was full of tobacco. 

" Glad to see you, Mr. Hobart. There is great need 
of a movement in favor of temperance up here." 

Sam eyed him, saw him expectorating tobacco juice, 
and in a polite and quiet way walked on. At night 
he was to speak. The house was crowded. The min- 
ister presided. Sam told this story : 

" My pastor was up in the northern part of New York 
to speak on temperance. A minister of great promi- 
nence welcomed him. The minister was an inveterate 
24 



370 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

user of tobacco. My pastor gave up tobacco to save a 
son of a deacon from making him an excuse for intem- 
perance. He has fought tobacco as relentlessly as he 
rights rum, because by striking tobacco he hits the idol 
of vast numbers in the church." 

The minister who was by his side began to move un- 
easily. His mouth was full of tobacco and he could 
not expectorate without drawing attention to himself. 
Sam went on : 

My pastor told this story : A man given up to 
strong drink, who was bringing ruin upon his family, 
was remonstrated with by a man who used tobacco. 
He said : 

" Neighbor, I have come to see you. All the neigh- 
bors are worried about you." 

"Why?" 

"Because you are drinking up health, property and 
happiness." 

" I am no worse than you." 

" Than me; what do you mean?" 

" Simply this. You use tobacco and I use rum. 
Your wife knows that you dirty your house more than 
I do mine ; and when they ask you to give up tobacco 
you say it is necessary to you. That is what I say 
about rum." 

The man went home under conviction. He called 
to his wife and inquired : 

" Have you been telling of my filthy habit?" 

" Certainly; I was telling the wife of our neighbor 
not to think she had all the trials ; that I had mine, 
and that I thought the use of tobacco was worse for 
the house than drinking, but not so bad for the man. 
Look at that spittoon. Think how our clothes are 
scented by the fumes of tobacco. You don't get crazy 
from the use of the weed, but go without it and you act 
like a fool or a madman, and it must be had." 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 371 

" Wife, you are right. Bring my box and pipes." 

She brought them. He worked at the fire diligently 
while she was away, and when she came back he had 
got up a good blaze. Taking the box of tobacco and 
pipes he threw them on, and while his idols were burn- 
ing he asked his wife's pardon for having been so ob- 
livious to the comfort and neatness of his home. The 
next morning he called again upon his neighbor. 

" Good morning, my friend." 

" Good morning." 

" I have come to talk to you about your peril because 
of the use of strong drink. Its effects are telling on 
you." 

" No worse than yours ?" 

"Why?" 

" You use tobacco and I use rum. Yours is as much 
an appetite as mi^e, and I think quite as disgusting." 

"You are mistaken, neighbor." 

" In what ?" 

" I don't use tobacco." 

" Since when ?" 

" Since yesterday. I gave up the practice that I 
might have power with you. Now, neighbor, let us 
both be clean." 

"Agreed." 

The man signed the pledge and kept it, and the 
minister who had greeted my pastor so warmly felt the 
rebuke and became a champion of cleanliness, which is 
next to godliness. 

" Hold up, Mr. Hobart. I am converted," said the 
minister in the desk with Sam. " Henceforth I will be 
free." 

The Christian gives an interesting anecdote of Isaac 
Price, an honored and esteemed member of the German 
"Brethren in Christ," which was related by a friend in 
Germantown, Pennsylvania: — 



372 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

In the gone-by days when some things were not seen 
in as clear a light as they are at the present time, Isaac 
Price for many years kept a country store, where sup- 
plies of all kinds were furnished to the farmer folk in 
the vicinity. In those days ardent spirits were one of 
the commodities which were usually obtainable at the 
country store, and hence were included in the stock of 
goods sold by Isaac Price. 

One day a man who was already indebted to him 
some forty dollars, came to buy a quantity of goods. 
His means were somewhat limited, and he was not 
able to buy all that he desired, but he took care among 
his earlier purchases to include a gallon of liquor, and 
then as he watched the expenditure of the money he 
brought, he said, he wanted to get his girl a pair of 
shoes, but he should have to let them go for the time, 
as he was unable to pay for them. 

His words sank into the heart of Isaac Price. There 
came before his mind the sight of the poor little shoe- 
less girl, deprived of what she needed for her comfort 
while her father had spent for rum the money which 
should have bought her shoes. He studied over the 
matter for a little time, and finally said to the man: 

" If you will let me break this jug and will promise 
never to drink any more strong drink, I will give you 
a pair of shoes for your daughter, and will forgive you 
all you owe me." 

It was his customer's turn now to do some thinking. 
He did it, and after due consideration he accepted the 
proposal. Isaac Price broke the man's jug, spilled its 
contents on the ground, set all the liquor he had 
in his store running, and never sold any more of 
the stuff. 

Years after as Isaac Price was going to some neigh- 
boring place to attend a meeting, he was met at the 
railway station by a person who was to convey him to 
the place appointed. The man, though a stranger, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 873 

seemed to know Isaac, who, after some little conversa- 
tion, remarked : 

" You seem to have the advantage of me. I do not 
know you." 

"Do not know me?" said he. "I am the man 
whose jug you broke." This explained the matter. 
That jug-breaking was the turning point in his life, and 
he was glad to take Isaac with him and show him what 
a comfortable and happy home he had, as the result of 
breaking that jug. 

Of the evils which sometimes now from the use of 
spirituous liquors as a drink, the following narrative 
gives a vivid picture. 

The following sad picture is from real life. The 
scenes all took place in a hill town of Connecticut, and 
the story repeated is the old, old story of rum and its 
work of ruin. 

Twenty years from the time I first set out from home, 
I found myself, one dreary evening in November, wind- 
ing down the road by the old mill at the head of the 
valley in which I was born. 

Some strange whim led me around by the graveyard. 
The church building looked like the face of an old 
friend; but the lattice on one side of the belfry was 
broken away, and a loose shutter swung back and forth 
in the bleak wind, which made sad music amid the tall 
elms and wide-spreading willows. The changes in the 
graveyard were sad enough, too. Death had been at 
work in that quiet valley, and many new tombstones 
were there. 

While indulging these sad thoughts I heard the 
church-yard gate creak on its hinges, and withdrawing 
myself still further into the deepening shadows, I wit- 
nessed a scene I can never forget. An old man, with 
feeble, tottering steps, which he vainly endeavored to 



374 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

steady with his staff, crept slowly up the path. His 
thin white locks and pale, white face were in sad keep- 
ing with his threadbare clothes. As he approached I 
could observe the strange expression of his countenance, 
which now seemed lighted with painful and most vivid 
emotions, now sunk into hopeless imbecility. He 
passed so near me that I could have touched him, and 
tottering toward a cluster of graves, he dropped upon 
a tombstone to rest his trembling limbs, ancl, leaning 
upon his staff, and rocking himself to and fro, wailed 
in low, muttering tones his dirge for the dead. For 
awhile his words seemed incoherent and rambling. By 
degrees they became more distinct, and at last, with 
startling earnestness, and in a voice the recollection of 
which even now thrills me with horror, he thus broke 
forth : 

"Yes, ye are all gone ! — all; there is not one left of 
all I so truly loved ! And I sent ye here ! The husband 
and father who should have been your guide and stay- 
was your bitterest foe. But ye are quiet now. Ye 
may have rest here, where I can never break your 
peace or happiness again. The bitter tears I shed are 
a fit reward for my deeds. Oh, if the grave could give 
up its dead before I lie down beside you, I would tell 
you of the depth and bitterness of my repentance. 
Well are ye avenged. The worm that dieth not already 
preys upon my vitals. The fire that is not quenched 
is already kindled in my bosom. Death can bring me 
no relief. The mountains cannot hide me from the 
wrath of an offended God!" 

Then throwing his arms wildly upward, with a feeble 
shriek, he fell prostrate on the ground. 

I hastened to him; and raising him in my arms, 
chafed his cold hands, and strove to restore conscious- 
ness. He sighed heavily, and slowly withdrawing 
himself from me, sat down on the newly-made grave, 
and burst into tears. With much entreaty I prevailed 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 375 

on him to leave the place, and suffer me to lead him 
home. Home — alas! he had none. The almshouse 
was his only refuge, and, having conducted him thither, 
I sought my father's house. 

It was a joyful meeting. I was like one restored 
from the dead; and though I missed some bright happy 
faces from amongst the group that welcomed me, yet 
the tears I shed for them were mingled with gratitude 
to the Good Shepherd who had gathered the lambs of 
the flock to his bosom, in the years of their innocence 
and purity. When all inquiries were satisfied and our 
thoughts turned from ourselves to our neighbors, I 
learned the history of the old man I had seen in the 
graveyard. 

When I left home he was an industrious, thriving 
farmer, with a wife and three fine children; the oldest 
a son of eighteen, the second a daughter of fifteen, and 
a little boy of seven years. His wife was a kind, gentle 
creature, who had long been an invalid, and who seemed 
only to live for her husband and children. Her daugh- 
ter, a sweet girl, was far too frail to contend with the 
fierce storms of life. The first rude blast withered the 
delicate flower. 

But I must go on with my story. Soon after I left 
home there came a stranger to reside in the neighbor- 
hood. Hitherto, as there was little or no travel through 
our quiet valley, it had not been thought necessary to 
have a house of public entertainment. All who came 
that way were welcome to the hospitalities of our fire- 
sides. A stranger came to establish one. It would, he 
said, induce travellers to visit the neighborhood when 
it was known there was a good public-house on the 
road. He was welcomed with kindness, and took up 
his abode among us. It soon began to be whispered 
that the new tavern did not depend so much upon the 
custom of strangers as that of our own citizens. The 
bar was supplied with choice wines and liquors, and 



376 FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMABKS. 

the polite landlord made the rich and poor alike wel- 
come. Soon the fruits began to appear. Red-faced, 
bloated men were to bs seen at all hours, lounging 
about the tavern door, or sleeping off the effects of the 
last night's excess by their own firesides. Among the 
victims there was no one whose ruin seemed more 
certain than that of the ill-fated James Bond. Day 
and night he was the inmate of that hateful tavern. 
First came the loss of character and credit, and with 
this the loss of business. Then came poverty and sick- 
ness, and death to his wretched family. The daughter 
first passed away. The neighbors said it was more 
from a broken heart than anything else, for she had 
been her father's favorite, and his disgrace was more 
than she could bear. Xext, the youngest son fell a 
victim. Thrust by his father from the house into a 
drenching storm, he never looked up again, and soon 
lay beside his sister in the graveyard. 

The wife and mother, who, strong in her love for her 
husband and children, had struggled against the sad 
reverse, now that her youngest darling was gone, had 
nothing to live for, and soon she, too, slept beside her 
children. 

The oldest son, naturally wild, had only been re- 
strained from following his father's pernicious example 
by the tender watchfulness and earnest prayers of his 
mother. But her restraining influence was no longer 
felt. He yielded to temptation and plunged headlong 
into intemperance and vice. His career was a brief one. 
Before he had completed his twenty-fifth year he was 
killed in a drunken brawl. 

The last blow seemed to fall with stunning effect 
upon the father. When he awoke to reason and reflec- 
tion, deep remorse took possession of his soul. Over 
the bloody corpse of his son, he felt those bitter pangs 
which are only known to him who has a child's blood 
upon his soul. Tears of repentance availed nothing. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 377 

The last one was gone ; and, though he would have 
poured out his heart's blood like water to have them 
restored to life, it was too late. Intemperance had fin ; 
ished its work. This ruined family were its first vic- 
tims in our hitherto peaceful and happy valley. And 
it was soon generally admitted by all that the shortest 
road to destruction, both in this world and the next, 
lay through the village bar-room. 

When David Ferris entered upon storekeeping as a 
business, he found it was the practice to sell rum. He 
says : " I was told if I did not conform to it, I need 
not expect to do any business of importance. So with- 
out waiting for [Divine] direction, I fell into the prac- 
tice ; and followed it for several years ; until it became 
a subject of uneasiness to me. I found many used that 
article to the injury both of body and mind. Some 
spent their estates to procure it; and thus brought 
themselves and their families into want and distress ; 
which gave me trouble of mind. But, being unwilling 
to lose the profits of this branch of the business, I 
adopted an expedient to soothe my pain ; which was 
to refuse selling it to such as I thought would make 
an evil use of it. But this did not answer my expec- 
tations ; for they would send for it by those who were 
not suspected. At length I was made willing to re- 
linquish the profits on this article ; and trust to Provi- 
dence for the result. I ceased to sell it; which afforded 
me peace, and made no great diminution of my busi- 
ness." 

An article in the Western Friend says : " Entering 
the depot at Columbus a short time ago, to take the 
train for Kansas City, my attention was attracted by 
crying that indicated deep sorrow. Upon inquiry as 
to the cause, the sheriff who stood near answered that 
he had just brought a convict to the depot to take the 
train for the penitentiary, and that it was the parting 



378 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

of his wife and children. The man was about fifty 
years old, had been drinking, when some rowdy asso- 
ciates came to his house; he ordered them away, and 
when they did not obey, he fired on them and killed 
one of them. He was sentenced for ten years to the 
penitentiary. His wife sat beside him, his daughter, 
almost a young woman, stood to one side, a little boy 
probably eight years old, stood before him gazing into 
his face, tears streamed from his eyes, and he cried as 
if his heart would break, a little girl of perhaps four 
years old, sat on the mother's lap, while the poor man 
held his babe, perhaps fifteen months old. This was 
the group. The weeping husband taking his final 
farewell of his heart-broken wife and weeping children, 
was the saddest sight I ever beheld. For one rash act, 
committed under the influence of strong drink, this 
man who from what I saw, loved his family, was torn 
away from them and deprived of his liberty. His wife 
lost a husband and was left poor in the world with a 
large family. The children lost a father at a time 
when they needed him most. As the poor man was 
torn away and took his place in the car, manacled to 
another criminal, and w T as hurried away from all he 
held dear on earth, toward the gloomy walls of his 
prison ; a sadder and more disheartened countenance I 
never beheld. For days the terrible and touching 
scene was present in my mind. It was a powerful 
lesson on the danger of intoxicating drinks, and the 
crime of Government in allowing such temptations to 
be put before men." 

" Fish, sir ? Caught within the half-hour ; not been 
lying in the boat all day in the sun. Fresh from the 
water sir !" 

We stopped to look at his fish, but quite as much 
for a look at his fine frame, which had attracted our 
attention as he strode through the water, carrying with 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 379 

ease upon one shoulder a weight of yard and sail-cloth 
under which most men would have "bent and staggered. 
His eye was quick and bright, and his complexion of 
that clear red and white, showing through the sun tan, 
which comes only by nurture on fresh air, sunshine 
and wholesome food. What a royal heritage ? a sound 
body, accompanied by a sound mind. 

" Your mates do not appear to be as strong as you 
are," I remarked, looking at the two who were bring- 
ing more of the day's catch from the fishing smack an- 
chored a little distance from the shore. 

" Well, no, sir, they're not ; and it's their own faults, 
more's the pity ? You see, they're old neighbors, and 
I hire them by the day because very few others will ; 
but they wont either of 'em be good for work much 
longer if they don't mend their ways a bit." 

" You are the master of the fishing-vessel then?" 

"Yes, sir; master and owner too, thanks to my 
father being a wise man." 

" I'd like to hear something of that wisdom of his, 
if you don't mind telling me," I said. 

" Not a bit, sir. Always feel as if it was a testimony, 
as you learned folk call it, to him, now he's gone." 

The fisherman laid his load down on the wharf, and 
sat on a barrel end as he went on : 

" When I was a young boy there was a great deal 
of beer drinking going on all about me. My father 
fell in with the custom, too, in a moderate sort of way ; 
but as time went on things seemed to get worse and 
worse. For I've always noticed, sir, that when the 
devil gets a good hold on a neighborhood he's never a 
bit inclined to let up on it, but gets a tighter and tighter 
hold on it unless the Lord sends his own power to throw 
him, which He always seems to do sooner or later. 

" Well, my father had the good sense to see that it 
wouldn't do for his boys; so when the temperance 
movement came our way, he took hold with all his 



380 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

might, and didn't begin by saying to ns boys, ' You do 
thus and so,' but he did it himself. Yes, sir, his name 
went down among the very first that signed the pledge, 
and then he says to us, ' Xow, boys, if you'll pledge 
yourselves never to touch a drop of liquor till you're 
twenty-five, I'll pay you your beer money every week,' 
for there were plenty of boys about the neighborhood 
that expected their beer money as regular as a man, 
and got it and drank it up, too. You see my father 
thought that if we could be kept from it until we were 
twenty-five, we'd have sense enough to know what was 
good for us, if ever we had it. 

" We put our money into the savings-bank, where it 
brought interest. And we put all our earnings we 
could spare beside it. I think the having a bit there 
already made us more likely to save what the other 
boys thought nothing of spending, and you'd be aston- 
ished to see how a little money grows if you only give 
it a good chance. 

" When I was twenty-five I took out my money and 
bought that boat. My brothers have stuck to the 
pledge the same as I have, and they are both in good 
business of their own, calling no one master except 
One," — the fisherman looked reverently upward — " and 
He makes a good Master, sir." 

Another of the evils which the grace of God teaches 
us to deny, is gambling. Dr. Sutherland, in an article 
on" The Gambling Mania," published in The New York 
Observer, says: 

The gambler's progress is dramatically pictured in 
John B. Gough's description of the man who started 
in a chase after a bubble, attracted by its bright and 
gorgeous hues. At first his way was through vine- 
yards, heavy with purple grapes, past fountains sparkling 
in the sunshine, and amid the music of singing birds. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 381 

As he runs, the excitement grows into a passion, and 
the passion into a disease. The pursuit gradually leads 
him away from things bright and beautiful, up the steep 
sides of a fearful volcano. Falls come to him and leave 
him bruised and blistered — but on he presses in the 
mad determination to have the glittering prize, cost 
what it will. " He must secure it. Knee-deep in the 
hot ashes, he falls, then up again, with limbs torn and 
bruised, the last semblance of humanity scorched out 
of him. Yet there is his prize ! He will have it. With 
one desperate effort he makes a sudden leap. Ah ! he 
has it now ! — but he has leaped into the volcano, and, 
with a burst bubble in his hand, goes to his retribu- 
tion." 

So it is with the man seized with the mania of 
gambling. At first, life is full of new excitement and 
the thrilling rush of pursuit after gain. Warnings are 
unheeded, the sober dictates of reason are flung to the 
winds. Friends speak to him of wasted hours and crip- 
pled means ; but they might as well speak to a stone 
image. What was once his pastime is now his life. 
Existence is unbearable without the keen enjoyment of 
the gaming-table. And so the sad tragedy runs its 
dreary length until the curtain falls, amid the wails of 
a gambler's doom ! 

This is no fancy picture. Every observer of the facts 
of life will bear testimony to its truth. Fascination, 
selfish oblivion to every interest save the master pas- 
sion, the feverish excitement of alternate loss and gain, 
final ruin, and often suicide, are the stages in the gam- 
bler's downward career. Ask the pastors of city 
churches about the hold gambling has on those of their 
parishioners unfortunate enough to come under its 
spell, and they will tell you with unanimous voice that 
chains of adamant are not stronger than the chains of 
the gambling habit. Once the betting fever seizes a 
man, he becomes impervious to good influences. So- 



382 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

cial duties, family affections, respect of friends, and the 
claims of the Gospel, are sacrificed in the mad chase 
to snatch a golden prize. If this he not a mania, fall 
of despair and darkness, what is? 

Gambling does not lack advocates even among those 
who ought to know better. Young men are taught 
that there is no sin in betting if they bet only for small 
amounts. A distinction between small and large bets 
is both false and pernicious. If the thing be wrong in 
principle, staking five cents is as criminal as staking 
five hundred dollars. It is high time to emphasize the 
truth that this is not a question of money quantity but 
of moral quality, and to strip away the veil of sophisms 
which so long hid the deformities of this vice. Gam- 
bling must be either wronsr or right. If it is wrong, no 
man with any pretense to morality dare extenuate its 
practice m any form. Brand the habit with the irre- 
vocable stigma of evil-doing, and you have taken a long 
stride toward its suppression. 

Gambling is opposed to the spirit of Christianity. 
This is questioned by its supporters, who sometimes 
say, " Point out one express command against gambling 
in the Bible, and we will obey it." Our answer is, 
that the Bible concerns itself more with principles for 
the regulation of conduct than with detailed injunc- 
tions. \Vhatever makes for love and righteousness, is 
commended by it; whatever militates against love and 
righteousness is condemned by it. Is there one sup- 
porter of gambling brazen enough in effrontery to 
maintain that it helps to establish love or righteous- 
ness ? It shows its love by bringing a man into a 
slavery whose only reward is ruin for body and soul. 
Its righteousness is conspicuous by its absence. Every 
law of righteousness laid clown by Christ is travestied 
in the practice of gambling. 

What is anti-Christian and anti-social can never be 
right under any circumstances. Let all those who pro- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 383 

fess to love God and man learn this lesson, and act ac- 
cordingly. We protect lunatics from the dangers to 
which their madness exposes them. "Why should we 
not do something to save the victims of the gambling 
mania ? 

As the way to the kingdom of heaven involves much 
self-denial and bearing the cross, there are constantly 
occurring temptations to enter the broad way that goes 
down to the chambers of death. 

The Independent, of 2sTew York, published some com- 
ments on the case of a broker who had been sentenced 
to imprisonment at Sing Sing for forgery, which contain 
matter of instruction. 

A few months before the discovery of his crime, he 
had an excellent business and social reputation, and 
was a member of a Christian church. The following 
explanation is given of his case: — 

Several years ago, while suffering under that mys- 
terious trouble, nervous prostration, scoffed at Some- 
times by the strong, and realized only by those who 
have come under it, and being also in great pecuniary 
strain at the time, there came into his hands, in the 
ordinary routine of his business as a stock broker, a 
certificate of some stock which in its most important 
part was blank — the figure 9 was written in the place 
for it, but the line in the body of the certificate where 
the number of shares represented by it should have 
been filled by the word " nine " was clear white 
paper. 

There came before him the thought how very easy 
it would be to write "ninety" in the blank space and 
add a cipher to the figure 9 in the other place. It was 
that fatal old suggestion — how very easy, and how very 



384 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

easy to cover it up and make it good, and nobody 
would ever know it, and no harm would be done, and 
other people do similar things, etc. 

As usual in such cases, he did not adopt the sugges- 
tion at once. But the tempting paper was in his pos- 
session several weeks, and the emergency did not pass; 
so, after familiarity with the thought had undermined 
resistance, he took his pen and did that easy act. The 
old story of repetition followed, for there seemed no 
other way to wrest success from the circumstances and 
avoid exposure. Moreover, although his double life 
was rather exceptional in not including personal vices, 
a drain came upon him, partly in trying to assume 
money losses of friends and customers, and partly by 
that fatal facility of disappearance which is noted in 
borrowed money and is much more the habit of what 
is ill-gotten. It never became possible for him to get 
firmly on his feet, and certainly it never became less 
easy to go on. 

We certainly shall not argue that he was blameless 
because an opportunity which he neither made nor 
foresaw, nor was responsible for, presented itself to 
him, ' and in circumstances which gave it peculiar 
power. It seems like palliation, and that it could be 
easily argued; but in order to avoid any difference of 
opinions let that pass. 

Which of us can truthfully look back and say that 
he has never thought about — not contemplated doing, 
but thought of — some vile thing? 

It is our part to repel the suggestion instantly and 
finally ; it was his part, and he is suffering the conse- 
quences of not having done so. The tempted are to 
resist temptation — from the earliest consciousness of 
moral responsibility till we shut our eyes on this world, 
we all know this. 

Nevertheless, what of the tempter? One may tempt 
without meaning it, and without even knowing it. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 385 

Who it was that half filled out that stock certificate 
which slew poor Smith, and who or how many they 
were through whose train of hands it passed to his, will 
never be publicly known — probably they do not now 
know themselves. Yet it is not clear that they became 
tempters unconsciously ; were they not guilty of con- 
tributory negligence, and is not such negligence morally 
wrong? Is it not at once contrary to public morals, 
cruel and wicked to say, as plainly by actions as could 
be said by words, and in any place or relation from that 
of the bank officer down to the errand boy, "here is an 
opportunity, unchecked and unnoticed, for you to steal 
if you choose?" To leave valuables in sight, drawers 
unlocked, checks signed in blank, negotiable papers in 
such a condition that they can be easily forged or 
altered — are we not our brother's keepers ? To trust is 
one thing and necessary; to tempt by carelessness is 
another — the distinction is plain. 

There is a story of an eminent jurist whose little boy 
came to him frequently for answers to questions or 
other help, and the only answer was "Run away now — 
I am busy." The jurist lived to see his son, for whose 
training he was always too busy, stand at the bar to 
receive sentence for a crime. Contributive negligence 
clearly. Was it sinful? Judge for yourselves. Are 
sins of commission always worse than those of omis- 
sion ? Perhaps not ; at least, both sorts are genu- 
ine sins. 

Care and forethought are a duty, and they pay. 
Carelessness and neglect are a sin; they scatter the 
seeds of temptation and spring up rankly in more 
sins. 

There is no doubt that we are responsible and incur 
guilt, if we voluntarily place unnecessary temptation in 
the way of others. Our Saviour taught his disciples to 
pray — "Lead us not into temptation. v But yet there 

25 



386 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

is a Divine power extended to man which enables him 
to overcome and thus escape the snares of him who 
seeks to beguile and lead us astray. 

The Baptist Weekly records the case of a distinguished 
public man of Indiana, who was engaged at the time 
of his sudden death, in writing reminiscences of his life. 
He was narrating to his daughter who was writing 
from his dictation, the story of a terrible temptation 
which assailed him when quite a youth. By attention 
to business and correct deportment he had won the 
implicit confidence of all who knew him. This confi- 
dence was shown, when on one occasion — before the 
days of easy and rapid communication by means of 
railroad and telegraph — he was intrusted with twenty- 
two thousand dollars to deliver in the then far-distant 
Cincinnati. Day after day, on his long horseback jour- 
ney, he guarded his treasure with the most scrupulous 
fidelity, without a thought of dishonesty. But he said — 
"There was a moment, a supreme and critical one, 
when the voice of the tempter penetrated my ear. It 
"was when I reached the crown of those imperial hills 
that overlook the Ohio River, when approaching Law- 
renceburg from the interior. The noble stream was 
the great artery of commerce at that day, before a rail- 
road west of Massachusetts had been built. What a 
gay spectacle it presented, flashing in the bright sun- 
light covered with flatboats, with rafts, with gay-painted 
steamers, ascending and descending, and transporting 
their passengers in brief time to the Gulf of Mexico, 
the gateway to all parts of the world. I had to sell 
my horse and go aboard one of these with my treasure, 
and I was absolutely beyond the reach of pursuit. 
There was no telegraph then flashing intelligence by 
an agency more subtle than steam, and far outrunning 
it; no extradition treaties requiring foreign govern- 
ments to return, the felon. The world is before me, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 387 

and at the age of twenty-one, with feeble ties connect- 
ing me with those left behind, I was in possession of a 
fortune for those early days. I recall the fact that this 
thought was a tenant of my mind for a moment, and 
for a moment orily. Bless God, it found no hospitable 
lodgment any longer." 

There is much instruction in the remark, that this 
temptation to evil doing " found no hospitable lodgment" 
in the mind. For if we permit ourselves to dally with 
temptations, and allow the thoughts to dwell on the 
desirable objects presented to our view there is great 
danger that the strength to resist evil will gradually 
lessen, and we finally be overcome. The only safe 
course is to turn resolutely away from the presentation 
and look to God for strength to walk uprightly in his 
sight. The Scripture declaration is, " Resist the devil 
and he will flee from you," but this must be a positive, 
determined resistance, and it is safe to occupy the mind 
as speedily as possible with other things. It is cheer- 
ing to read of those who have withstood tempta- 
tion : — 

" Stop a minute," said a gentleman to the friend who 
was walking with him. " Just here I once fought for 
my soul's life, and by the Grace of God won it." 

" How was that ? " asked his friend. 

" It happened in the time of my clerkship," was the 
answer. " I left my room one Friday evening for a 
stroll. While standing right here for a moment I was 
hailed by a young clerk whom I knew. He was two 
years older than myself — smart, clever, with manner 
that to me was very attractive. Pointing toward a 
neighborhood then notorious for its haunts of evil 
pleasures, he invited me to go with him there. 



388 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

" Young and social myself, it seemed impossible ta 
resist. Having taken a few steps with the young man, 
all at once the sight of the chapel, in the rear of the 
church yonder, reminded me of a promise I had made 
to an old friend to meet him there some Friday even- 
ing at the prayer-meeting. But I was moving the 
other way. It seemed now as if I heard this voice: 
' If you go yonder to-night, you will never again feel 
like going to the chapel. Which party will you join? 
Answer.' 

" It was the crisis of my life. Here I stood where 
two ways met. The debate was torture. I prayed 
inwardly and power came. I stopped short, mentioned 
the promise I had given to my older friend, bowed my 
good-night and hastened to the chapel." 

When one of the kings of France solicited a M. 
Bougier, who was a Protestant, to conform to the 
Roman Catholic religion, promising him in return a 
commission or a governorship, "Sire," he replied, "If 
I could be persuaded to betray my God for a marshal's 
staff, I might be induced to betray my king for a bribe 
of much less value." 

When J. G. Paton settled on the island of Aniwa, in 
the New Hebrides, the natives would not permit him 
to occupy a position which he had selected, but com- 
pelled him to take another. He says : — 

At first we had no idea why they so determinedly 
refused us one site, and fixed us to another of their own 
choice. But after the old chief, Namakei, became a 
Christian, he one day addressed the Aniwan people in 
our hearing, to this effect : 

" When Missi came we saw his boxes. We knew he 
had blankets and calico, axes and knives, fish-hooks 
and all such things. We said, 'Don't drive him off, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 389 

else we will lose all these things. We will let him 
land. But we will force him to live on the Sacred Plot. 
Our gods will kill him, and we will divide all that he 
has among the men of Aniwa.' But Missi built his 
liouse on our most sacred spot. He and his people 
lived there, and the gods did not strike. He planted 
bananas there, and we said, ' Now, when they eat of 
these they will all drop down dead, as our fathers as- 
sured us, if any one ate fruit from that ground, except 
only our Sacred Men themselves.' These bananas 
ripened. They did eat them. We kept watching for 
days and days, but no one died ! Therefore what we 
say, and what our fathers have said, is not true. Our 
gods cannot kill them. Their Jehovah God is stronger 
than the gods of Aniwa." 

I enforced old Namakei's appeal, telling them that, 
though they knew it not, it was the living and true and 
-only God who had sent them every blessing which they 
possessed, and had at last sent us to teach them how 
to serve and love and please Him. In wonder and si- 
lence they listened, while I tried to explain to them 
that Jesus, the Son of this God, had lived and died and 
gone to the Father to save them, and that He was now 
willing to take them by the hand and lead them through 
this life to glory and immortality together with him- 
self. 

The old chief led them in prayer — a strange, dark 
groping prayer, with streaks of heathenism coloring 
every thought and sentence; but still a heart-breaking 
prayer, as the cry of a soul once cannibal, but now being 
thrilled through and through with the first conscious 
pulsations of the Christ-Spirit, throbbing into the words, 
" Father, Father, our Father." 

When these poor creatures began to wear a bit of 
calico or a kilt, it was an outward sign of a change, 
though yet far from civilization. And when they be- 
gan to look and pray to One whom they called "Father, 



390 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

our Father," though the}- might be far, very far, from 
the type of Christian that dubs itself " respectable," my 
heart broke over them in tears of joy; and nothing will 
ever persuade me that there was not a Divine heart in 
the heavens rejoicing too. 

Very decided and very touching is the testimony of 
Bishop William Taylor as to the universality of this 
love of G-od. From a report of some remarks which he 
made at Carlisle, Pa., when on a visit in this country, 
we extract the following : — 

Many divines assert that benighted heathen will be 
sent to perdition if Christians do not send them the 
Gospel. The heathen will be saved or lost according 
as they accept the Light which has lightened every 
man that cometh into the world. Is it true that enough 
light has been given to send them to hell and yet not 
enough to save them ? It is not fair play that so large 
a proportion of human kind as is represented by the 
heathen should have no way of escape. It is not like 
God's other dealings with men. He is no respecter of 
persons. " Day unto day uttereth speech and night 
unto night showeth knowledge !" The night of the 
heathen has knowledge. God has two schools, the pri- 
mary school, where all flesh has knowledge of Him, 
and the high school of Revelation. It is this high 
school which we enjoy. 

On my way I stopped at a hut in which was an old 
woman grinding paint between two stones. I knew 
some of her language, and addressing nryself to her,, 
said, " God is good." She dropped her work, clasped 
her hands above her head, looked toward heaven and 
answered that she was " so glad I knew about God." 
O, friends, if that poor African woman, who had never 
read a word of Bible, did not go to heaven, where would 
she go, I ask you ? 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 391 

At one missionary station, where we had worked for 
some time, we had noticed a perfectly deaf and dumb 
man — we had addressed nothing to him, for how could 
he understand? One night a voice was heard down 
by the river ; a noise of screaming in no language, but 
in dreadful sounds. The young men got torches and 
went down to see from whence the notes proceeded. 
There was the deaf and dumb man calling to God in 
his wordless voice and looking up to heaven his dwell- 
ing place. For a long time he continued his cries and 
in the morning came to the missionary and asked to 
be baptized. He then wanted a license to preach — a 
license for a deaf and dumb man to preach ! We 
evaded him, and still he insisted, and just to get rid of 
him we gave him a copy of the New Testament. He 
went away with the Bible under his arm, content that 
it was his license. Among the wildest tribes by signs 
he made many feel their sins — how great God is, that 
He had a Son who was like them, and yet not like 
them, who died and rose again and is now living with 
his Father at the court of the great King. He became 
a great preacher, though instructed himself in only the 
primary school and in the art of giving and receiving 
object lessons only. Was not this a manifestation of 
God? All heathen do not hear the voice of God — 
they have rejected it as many of us have. 

When a person has not been brought under re- 
ligious conviction, nor felt the force of the command, 
'" Whether ye eat, or whether ye drink, or whatsoever 
ye do, do all to the glory of God ; " it is difficult to 
make such an one see the necessity for that non- 
conformity to the spirit of the world which the Gospel 
requires. This is especially the case in regard to 
various fashionable amusements ; some of which would 
be innocent in themselves, if it were not for the associ- 



392 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

ations connected with them, or the tendency to exces- 
sive indulgence. "By their fruits shall ye know 
them;" and in applying this rule the sincere seeker 
after salvation soon finds the effect of them on his 
mind to be evil, and he is forced to refrain from such 
things as tend to dissipate serious feelings , and to en- 
courage improper excitement or frivolity. • 

Elizabeth Fry mentions in her memoirs that about 
the time she was coming under religious conviction, 
she paid a visit to London, and while there entered 
various scenes of gayety, and attended balls, and other 
places of amusements. She remarks in reference to 
these things, — " I consider one of the important results 
was the conviction of these things being wrong, from 
seeing them and feeling their effects. I wholly gave 
up on my own ground attending all public places of 
amusement; I saw they tended to promote evil. I felt 
the vanity and folly of what are called the pleasures of 
this life, of which the tendency is, not to satisfy, but 
eventually to enervate and injure the heart and mind ; 
those only are real pleasures which are of an innocent 
nature, and are used as recreations, subjected to the 
cross of Christ." 

When John B. Gongh was a youth he had, he says, 
"an intense desire, almost amounting to a passion, to 
adopt the theatrical profession. I was fascinated by 
the theatre, stage-struck, enamored of all dramatic 
representation." 

When about sixteen years of age he paid his first 
visit to the theatre, and was dazzled by the dresses, the 
music and the lights. His little bed-room seemed mean 
and poor ; his plodding in a shop to learn a trade, a 
dreary monotony; regular business, tame and grovelling 
compared with the occupation of an actor. Some per- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 393 

sons, he remarks, " cannot conceive the attraction of all 
the stage paraphernalia, and the glamor thrown around 
certain minds by the glitter and unreality of the stage." 
All his spare money was spent on theatre-tickets. His 
regular business was neglected, and finally he obtained 
a situation among those employed at a theatre in Bos- 
ton. The effect on his mind of an inside acquaintance 
with the stage, he thus describes : — 

" I found the gold to be tinsel. I acquired a thor- 
ough distaste for all theatrical representations, and all 
the genius and intellect displayed by the most famous 
actor has not, and never can reconcile me to the sham, 
the tinsel crowns, the pasteboard goblets, the tin armor, 
the paltry spangles, cotton for velvet, all make-believe, 
the combats, and the sham blood. Even the nightly 
disguise became an annoyance ; the painting the face, 
corking the eyebrows, pencilling the wrinkles, the 
doing up with false whiskers, hair, moustache, the 
French chalk, the rouge, the burnt cork, to say nothing 
of the habiliments, rendered the whole thing at last 
odious to me ; and I never felt meaner or had less self- 
respect, that when I was bedizened to do some charac- 
ter. How men of ability and common sense can submit 
to this caricaturing night after night, passes my poor 
comprehension. 

"Oh, the disenchantment! The beautiful women 
were, some of them, coarse and profane; the noble 
gentleman often mean, tricky and sponging. In fact, 
the unreality of it, the terrible temptation to the lower 
forms of vice, especially to those of the nervous, ex- 
citable temperament, increased by the falsehood and 
fiction involved in their profession, in seeming to be 
what they never were or could be, while their lives 
were wholly vicious, repelled me. I do not say this 
of all actors, I only speak of the special temptations of 
the profession." 

His connection with the drama lasted but three 



394 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

weeks. And on looking back to that period of life in 
after years, he expresses his gratitude to the Almighty 
that hindrances had been thrown in the way of accom- 
plishing what had been a cherished design — hindrances 
which he regarded as mercies, because they were the 
means of rescuing him from probable ruin. 

There is a Wesleyan tract on " The Theatre," pro- 
fessedly written by one who had followed for years the 
business of acting on the stage. I have no means of 
ascertaining the accuracy of its statements, but no 
reason to suppose it is not substantially correct. He 
was successful in his undertakings, and was preserved 
from much dissipation ; but says that many of his com- 
panions fill the drunkard's grave, and that he dare not 
describe the scenes he witnessed. The manner in which 
he was induced to give up a lucrative engagement on 
the stage, is thus described : — 

It chanced that, in a new .play, the part of an eccen- 
tric clergyman was cast for me; and as there was a 
living original I determined to visit him, on some pre- 
text or other, and study him, so that I might present 
my part more perfectly. One sunny day I walked to 
his residence; arid on inquiry I found the good man 
was not at home, bat was expected soon. As I was 
ushered into a side room for the purpose of waiting 
until he returned, a young lady was wheeled in on an 
invalid's chair. I immediately arose, and was on the 
point of retreating; but she requested me to re- 
main, saying that her father would return in a few 
minutes. 

[Never shall I forget the appearance of this fair girl. 
She could not have seen more than seventeen summers, 
and I was sure that the seal of death was even then 
stamped upon her brow. There was a beauty in her 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 395 

countenance such as I had never met with before; and 
as with the candor of a child she soon began to con- 
verse with me, and told me out of the fulness of her 
heart, simply and fervently, of the arduous duties in 
which her father was engaged, and of the good he was 
daily doing, my spirit failed me. I had come for the 
purpose of setting forth the actions of this excellent 
man in the light of ridicule. 

I said to her at last, being overwhelmed with con- 
fusion, and desirous of finding some excuse to leave, 
"Have you not been suffering from illness?" 

A flash of light broke over and played along her 
features, as she exclaimed, " Oh, I have many months 
ago given up the hope of life. I have been very ill, I 
shall never be better than you see me now; and I so 
long for my heavenly home ! " 

There was no acting in that reverent glance upwards, 
the folding of the hands, the flitting tremor of the deli- 
cate lips. I felt as if a sword had cut me to the heart. 
The pure sweet presence smote me with a powerful 
conviction. I sat there, accused by the Spirit of God ; 
and when the good old pastor returned, I tolcl him 
trembling, for what I had come, and now for what I 
remained— Christian counsel. 

This part of my experince seems so wonderful to me 
as I look back. I entered that old parsonage a careless, 
trifling, proud and wayward man; I came from it 
humbled, repentant, and a sincere seeker after the 
peace and holiness that gave to that dying girl the face 
of an angel. 

Time passed, and found me at length no longer an 
actor by profession, but a minister of Christ. Gladly 
I gave up my lucrative employment, and became com- 
paratively a poor man. 

One day a man, who appeared to be a servant, came 
to my house and left a message for me. It was to the 
effect that a young gentleman, very ill, residing on 



396 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

street, wished to see me. I hurried to the place 



designated, an elegant mansion in the upper part of 
the city, and was ushered into a chamber, where on a 
luxurious couch, with all the indications of wealth sur- 
rounding him, the sufferer lay in what seemed to be a 
death-like sleep. A troubled, grieved, care-worn look 
gave to the exceedingly youthful features the emaciated 
appearance of age. I sat down silently by his side, 
thinking him unconscious, when suddenly he glanced 
up at me : 

" You — you — have — come," he said, slowly, with 
difficulty, " to see — the wreck you have made ! " 

The startled minister recognized in the patient before 
him, one whom years before he had often seen sitting 
in the pit at the theatre, and whose evident admiration 
of himself had gratified him exceedingly. He was 
smitten with awe and remorse now, when his former 
admirer told him, that thralled by his power, he had 
followed him until he was happy nowhere but in the 
atmosphere of the theatre, which had drained him of 
every good, sapped his virtue and destroyed his soul ! 
and that now he was going prematurely to the grave, 
a disgrace to his name. " Lying here, day after day," 
he said, " I have thought of you ; how in my eager 
admiration I followed you, and learned to love through 
your enticements the stage ; and I have hated — yes, I 
have cursed you." 

"I deserve it all," was the reply of the humbled 
minister, " but, oh, I cannot bear to think that you will 
die cursing me." And then he endeavored to point 
him to the rejoicing in heaven over every sinner that 
repents, and to the Lamb of God who taketh away the 
sins of the world. Subsequently he learned from the 
mother of the young man, that before he was taken 
away, " there was light before him," and he was willing 
to die. Of his own feelings at that solemn interview, 
when listening to the reproaches of the dying man, the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 397 

writer of the tract says : " Oh, to have him die thus ! 
Oh, to feel that his soul would be required at my hand ! 
He the beautiful temple, prostrate in ruins through my 
agency. Wonder not that I say, words cannot express 
my agony. I prayed and wept over him as I had never 
wept and prayed before." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FAITHFULNESS. 

Prisoners at Aberdeen— Gilbert Latey— Little Scotch granite- 
Matthew Hale— Archbishop Ussher— An honest job— William 
Williams' testimony— "Seek religion now" — An awful end- 
Henri Heine— The infidel lecturer— Daniel Wheeler. 

In Gough's History of the Quakers, mention is made 
of the persecutions which they suffered at Aberdeen, in 
Scotland, where some of those in authority were very 
bitter against them. 

Patrick Livingstone and James Halliday, from Eng- 
land, in the course of a religious visit to their brethren 
in Scotland, came to Aberdeen, where they were ap- 
prehended and imprisoned. But they continued un- 
dauntedly to bear a testimony to the Truth, and had 
frequent opportunities, especially on market days, to 
publish their doctrine out of the prison windows, and 
had more hearers than they probably could have had 
in their own meeting-places, so that even their con- 
finement, designed to prevent it, tended to promote the 
testimony they had to bear. Their experience was 
similar to that of the Apostle Paul, who wrote to the 
Philippians from Rome, " that the things which hap- 



398 FOOTPRINTS AND WATMARES. 

pened unto me have fallen out rather unto the further- 
ance of the Gospel." 

The prisoners at Aberdeen, being cruelly treated and 
confined in narrow limits, appealed to the Commis- 
sioners of Scotland, who directed a part of them to be 
removed to Banff. The deputy sheriff treated them 
with much civility, ordering a guard to attend them 
thither, with directions to take their own time, whereby 
they had the opportunity of several religious meetings, 
where they had such remarkable service that some of 
the guard who conducted them were effectually con- 
verted to the Truth they promulgated. 

Gilbert Latey was one of the early members of the 
Society of Friends who resided in London, where he 
followed the business of a tailor. Being a man of 
ability and great uprightness, a Divine blessing ap- 
peared to rest on his labors, and he had a large trade 
among persons of considerable rank and station in the 
world. 

In the year 1654, he attended a meeting, where Ed- 
ward Burrough so livingly proclaimed the truths of the 
Gospel that he was convinced thereby, and led to fol- 
low the leadings of the Holy Spirit as" the guide of his 
lite. He was then in a very prosperous way of busi- 
ness, in which he employed man} 7 journeymen to an- 
swer the calls of his employers, many of whom were 
persons of rank and fashion. 

The power of the cross of Christ induced him to deny 
himself of all superfluity and needless ornaments in his 
own apparel, in conformity to the plainness of his pro- 
fession, and the doctrine of the apostles of Christ, which 
was against the wearing of gold and silver and costly 
array. 

The same principle of light and grace which had in- 
structed him to lay aside all superfluities in his own 
person, instructed him further, that he could not keep 
up his testimony for the simplicity of the Gospel with 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 399 

clearness, while he was in the practice of furnishing to 
others those superfluities which he" had, from honest 
conviction of their tendency to nourish a vain mind, 
and their inconsistency with Christian gravity and hu- 
mility, laid aside. 

In order to appease his conscience, he declined to 
adorn any apparel with superfluous ornaments of lace, 
ribbons, and such like needless trimming, or to suffer 
his servants to do it; which occasioned many to im- 
agine he was losing his reason. His customers left 
him ; his trade declined. He was obliged to dismiss 
his journeymen for want of employment; his outward 
prospects were so discouraging that he did not know 
but that he might now be reduced to the necessity of 
working in the capacity of a journeyman himself, and 
of earning his bread by his daily labor. Yet, being thus 
strengthened to prefer the testimony of a good con- 
science to the acquisition of outward treasure, and to 
give up all the flattering prospects of this world for 
solid peace of mind, possessing his soul in patience, and 
submitting to be accounted a fool for Christ's sake, he 
experienced the kindness of Divine Providence, sup- 
porting him through his trials ; so that as his outward 
discouragements abounded, his inward peace did much 
more abound ; and having faithfully sought the king- 
dom of God and his righteousness, all things necessary 
for his accommodation in this life, were added to his full 
content. 

Another incident is related of him, which shows his 
faithfulness to the Lord's requirings. In the year 1571, 
having occasion in the way of his trade to wait upon 
Lady Sawkell, Sir William Sawkell, her husband, who 
had a command in a regiment of horse, entered the 
room. He had a friendly respect for Gilbert, and now 
asked him what meeting he frequented. " The reason 
is," said "William, " that I have orders to break up a 
meeting of your people at Hammersmith next Sunday 



400 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMAEKS. 

from so high a hand, that I cannot avoid executing 
them ; and therefore I inform you, that you may re- 
frain from coming on that day." Gilbert, notwith- 
standing, believing it his duty to attend Hammersmith 
Meeting, let "William know it before they parted. 

The day came. Gilbert, not reasoning with flesh 
and blood, attended the meeting, in which he was much 
favored, and as he was preaching, the troopers came, 
and stood for some time in silence to hear his testi- 
mony, till one of the under sort cried out, " This man 
will never have done, let us pull him down," and ac- 
cordingly laid hands on him. The commanding officer, 
coming in, said " Latey, did I not tell you that I was 
commanded to be here to-day ?" " Yes," replied Gil- 
bert, " and did I not tell thee that I was commanded 
by a greater than thou to be here also ?" He was taken 
before those in authority and fined, but was able, 
through his influence, to save his friends of that meet- 
ing from the sufferings designed for them. 

His honest faithfulness met with an abundant re- 
ward, for in his old age he was often heard to say, 
" that he had done the work of his clay faithfully, and 
was now sat down in the will of God, and his peace he 
felt abounding towards him ; that he waited the Lord's 
call and time of being removed, and that there was no 
cloud in his way." 

A few hours before his departure, he said to those 
about him, " There is no condemnation to them that are 
in Christ Jesus. He is the lifter up of my head ; He is 
my strength and great salvation." 

Little children who are always true, who would 
" rather die than lie," are always honored. People may 
sometimes make fun of them, but in their secret souls 
they honor them and wish they were like them. The 
story of a true boy, which we clip from the Manchester 
Times, illustrates this : — 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 401 

Burt and Johnnie Lee were delighted when their 
Scotch cousin came to live with them. He was little, 
but very bright and full of fun. He could tell curious 
things about his home in Scotland and his voyage 
across the ocean. He was as far advanced in his studies 
as they were, and the first day he went to school they 
thought him remarkably good. He wasted no time in 
play when he should have been studying, and he ad- 
vanced finely. At night, before the close of school, the 
teacher called the roll, and the boys began to answer 
" Ten." When Willie understood that he was to say 
" Ten," if he had not whispered during the day, he re- 
plied : — 

" I have whispered." 

" More than once ?" 

" Yes, sir," answered Willie. 

"As many as ten times ?" 

" Maybe I have," faltered Willie. 

" Then I shall mark you zero," said the teacher, 
sternly, " and that is a great disgrace." 

" Why, I did not see you whisper once," said John- 
nie, that night, after school. 

" Well, I did," said Willie. " I saw others doing it, 
and so I asked to borrow a book ; then I lent a slate 
pencil, and asked a boy for a knife, and did several 
such things. I supposed it was allowed." 

" O, we all do it," said Burt, reddening. " There 
isn't any sense in the old rule, and nobody could keep 
it; nobody does." 

" I will, or else I w T ill say I haven't," said Willie. 
" Do you suppose I will tell ten lies in one heap ?" 

" O, we don't call them lies," muttered Johnnie. 
" There wouldn't be a credit among us at night if we 
were so strict." 

" What of that, if you told the truth ?" laughed Wil- 
lie, bravely. 

In a short time the boys all saw how it was with him. 

2Q 



402 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

He studied hard, played with all his might in play 
time, but, according to his account, he lost more credits 
than any of the rest. After some weeks the boys an- 
swered u Nine" and " Eight" oftener than they used 
to. Yet the school-room seemed to have grown quieter. 
Sometimes, when Willie Grant's mark was even lower 
than usual, the teacher would smile peculiarly, but said 
no more of disgrace. Willie never preached at them 
or told tales, but somehow it made the boys ashamed 
of themselves, just the seeing that this sturdy, blue-eyed 
boy must tell the truth. It was putting the clean cloth 
by the half-soiled one, you see, and they felt like cheats 
and story-tellers. They talked him all over and loved 
him, if they did nickname him "Scotch Granite," he 
was so firm about a promise. Well, at the end of the 
term, Willie's name was very low down on the credit 
list. When it was read he had hard work not to cry, 
for he was very sensitive, and tried hard to be perfect. 
But the very last thing that day was a speech by the 
teacher, who told of once seeing a man muffled up in a 
cloak. He was passing him without a look, when he 

was told that the man was general , the great hero. 

"The signs of his rank were hidden, but the hero was 
there just the same," said the teacher. "And now, 
boys, you will see what I mean when I give a little gold 
medal to the most faithful boy — the one really the most 
conscientiouslv 'perfect in his deportment' among you. 
Who shall have it?" 

" Little Scotch Granite !" shouted forty boys at once, 
for the child whose name was so low on the credit list 
had made the truth noble in their eyes. 

It is said of that upright judge, sir Matthew Hale, 
that he would never receive any private addresses or 
recommendations from the greatest persons in any mat- 
ter in which justice was concerned. One of the first peers 
of England went once to his ^chamber and told him, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 403 

P That, having a suit in law to be tried before him, he 
was there to acquaint him with it, that he might the 
better understand it when it should be heard in court." 
Upon which, Sir Matthew interrupted him, and said, 
"He did not deal fairly to come to his chamber about 
such affairs, for he never received any information of 
causes but in open court, where both parties were to be 
heard alike" — so he would not suffer him to go on. 
"Whereupon the duke went away not a little dissatisfied, 
and complained of it to the King, as a rudeness that 
was not to be endured. But the King bade him con- 
tent himself that he was no worse used, and said, " He 
verily believed he would have used himself no better, 
if he had gone to solicit him in any of his own causes." 
In one of his circuits, a gentleman who had a trial at 
the assizes had sent him a buck for his table. "When 
he heard his name, he asked, " If he was not the same 
person that had sent him the venison ?" And finding 
he was the same, he told him, " He could not suffer the 
trial to go on, till he had paid him for his buck." To 
which the gentleman answered, " That he had never 
sold his venison, and that he had done nothing to him 
which he did not do to every judge that had gone that 
circuit" — which was confirmed by several gentlemen 
then present ; but Matthew would not suffer the trial 
to go on till he had paid for the present. At Salisbury 
the Dean and Chapter, having, according to custom, 
presented him with six sugar loaves in his circuit, he 
made his servants pay lor the sugar before he would 
try their cause. • 

A beautiful testimony to the unspotted life of Arch- 
bishop Ussher was borne by Bishop Burnet, who said 
of him, " In free and frequent conversation I had with 
him, for twenty-five years, I never heard him utter a 
word which had not a tendency to edification ; and I 
never saw him in any ether frame than that in which I 
wish to be found when I come to die." 



404 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

The influence which true religion exerts over a man 
in all the relations of life, is well shown in a conversa- 
tion between two workmen, over a piece of work which 
one of them was doing : — 

"Are you going to let that pass ?" said one workman 
to another, a shade of surprise in his voice. 

" Why not ?" was the answer, " it will never be seen." 

"Would you buy the article if you knew just how it 
was made ?" 

"No." 

" Why not ?" 

" Because it might give out in a year, instead of last- 
ing five years." 

"And you are going to let that job pass, when you 
know that whoever buys it will be cheated ?" said the 
fello w-workm an . 

" Oh, you're more nice than wise," returned the 
other, with a toss of the head. " You draw things too- 
fine." 

" Suppose Mr. Gray, down at the store, were to sell 
you stuff for pants that he knew would drop to pieces 
in less than six months ; wouldn't you call him a swin- 
dler?" 

"Perhaps I would." 

" Is there really any difference in the cases ? Who- 
ever buys this article that you are making, will be 
cheated out of his money. You will not deny that. As 
much cheated as you would be if Grav sold you rotten 
cloth." _ 

The journeyman shrugged his shoulders and arched 
his eyebrows. 

" We must draw things fine," resumed the other, 
"if we would be fair and honest. Morality has no spe- 
cial bearing, but applies to all men's dealings with their 
fellow-men. To wrong another for gain to ourselves is 
dishonest. Is not that so? 

"You slight this job, that you might get it done in 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 405 

a shorter time than would be possible if you made it 
strong in every part. Thus in order to gain a dollar or 
two more than honest work will give, you let an article 
leave your hands that will prove a cheat to the man 
that buys it. I tell you it is not right ! We must do as 
we would be done by in our work, as in everything 
else. There are not two codes of honesty — one for 
shoppers and one for workmen. "Whoever wrongs his 
neighbor out of his money, cheats him." 

The other journeyman turned away from his moni- 
tor, looked half offended and bent over his work-bench. 
At first he went on finishing his job ; but after awhile 
his fellow-workman saw him take out a defective piece 
of wood and then remove another, which had not been 
properly squared and joined. Observing him still, he 
saw him detach a piece of wood which had simply been 
driven into place and which gave no real strength, and 
after selecting another, three or four inches longer, set 
it by mortise and tenon firmly into the article he was 
making. 

All this was done at an expenditure of time not ex- 
ceeding half an hour. " There," said he, in a tone of 
satisfaction, speaking to his fellow-workman, " if that 
does not last forever it will not be my fault." 

"A good honest job," remarked the other, " and you 
feel better about it than you would have done had it 
left your hands to cheat the purchaser out of his 
money ?" 

" Yes, I do," the answer came frankly. 

" How much more time did it cost you to do this 
work well ?" was asked. 

" Oh, not over an hour or two." 

"And the thing is worth ten dollars more to the 
buyer. In other words, it is a well-made article, as it 
should be, and will cheat nobody. Now you have done 
as you would be done by ; have acted as a Christian 
man should." 



406 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

" Oh, as to that, I don't profess to be a Christian," 
said the other; " I'm no hypocrite." 

"A Christian profession is one thing and a Christian 
life another," answered the fellow-workman. "All 
professors are not Christians. Religion is a thing of 
daily life, and unless it comes down into a man's work 
and business, it is not worth a copper, ^o amount of 
church-going or praying or singing will save a man, if 
he is not honest in his dealings. He must do as he 
would be done by — must begin just as you hare begun 
— by refusing to wrong his neighbor, though tempted 
to do so that he may get an advantage for himself." 

"A new kind of religion that," remarked the jour- 
neyman. 

"As old as Christianity," said the other, " and the 
only kind that will save men. 'As ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the 
law and the prophets.' He who said this knew all 
about it. And I am sure that if we begin to be just to 
our neighbor, to try all things, to do as we would be 
done by, our feet will have entered the way that leads 
Heavenward — and though we may be a long way from 
that happy country, if we keep walking on, Ave shall 
surely get there in the end." 

The account of the closing days of William Williams, 
of Tennessee, contains much encouragement to continue 
faithful to the Lord's cause. 

His last journey was to part of the meetings of Phila- 
delphia Yearly Meeting, in 1823. His health soon 
after further declined. During the remainder of his 
time he was mostly confined to his chamber and bed, 
and quietly ended his days in the Eighth month of 
1824. The concluding entries of his Journal are as 
follows : — 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 407 

After my return home, I enjoyed great inward peace 
of mind, and often felt that my travels and vocal labors 
were drawing to a close ; that my day's work had been 
done in the day time, and that if the night is appoach- 
ing I feel resigned. 

In a few weeks after my return home, I was taken 
apparently with a great cold, and very hard cough, 
which soon confined me to my chamber, and pretty 
much to my bed. After being long confined ; my mind 
became impressed to write as follows : — 

It is well known to many on this continent, that I 
have lived an active life, in which I have not believed, 
nor followed cunningly devised fables, neither the rudi- 
ments of men, nor human reason alone; but have 
believed in the doctrines of the glorious Gospel of our 
blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as they stand 
recorded in the Scriptures of Truth, and not only 
because they stand there, but because the Spirit of God 
bore witness with my spirit, that these things were 
true. 

This doctrine I have believed from a child, and when 
I became obedient to the manifestations of Divine grace 
in my own breast, given to me, (and not to me alone, 
but to all men,) to profit withal, I was called upon to 
publish the same to mankind, which call I obeyed, 
conferring not with flesh and blood, but trusting in his 
Divine promise, " that He would be with his followers 
to the end of the world." This promise I have found 
fulfilled ; so that through his Divine aid, I have been 
enabled to go forth amongst all classes, and to publish 
this, his Gospel, in large and mixed assemblies, where 
there were various states : the power accompanying 
the word ; so that the mouths of the gainsayers were 
stopped, and the minds of the unbelievers shaken. In 
these close exercises no one dared openly oppose me, 
but the unbelievers often talked behind my back, call- 



408 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS, 

ing me a liar, and a fool, and saying that I would alter 
my mind before I died. 

Now, as I have been confined fifteen months to my 
chamber and bed, wherein I have had full opportunity 
to consider, and reconsider these things, and feeling 
that my close is drawing near, for the comfort of my 
well-wishers everywhere, and for the stopping of the 
mouths of gainsay ers, I give this forth as my last testi- 
mony to the glorious Gospel, that my faith hath in my 
silent meditation, become more and more strengthened 
in God, in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in his glorious 
Gospel. I have become deeply exercised from clay to 
day, on account of the disobedient and unbelieving, 
seeing the awful situation that they are in, and will 
unavoidably centre in, if they do not return, repent, 
and live. " Verily, there is a reward for the righteous, 
verily, there is a God that judgeth ! ' " 

Now, to the glory, honor, and dignity of that God, 
in whom I have believed, be it ascribed that I feel no 
condemnation, but that my soul is enabled to say, " oh 
death, where is thy sting! oh grave! where is thy vic- 
tory!" and this, not in the dark, but under the influ- 
ence of the inshining light of the glorious Gospel, 
wherein I may say, that I feel many who have seen 
and heard me, very near to my best life ; hoping that 
we shall ere long, meet in the mansion of eternal peace. 

An awful contrast to such a condition of mind is 
found in the state of those, who have refused to listen 
to the calls of the Lord, and rejected his pleadings in 
the day of their visitation. 

The following impressive narrative, we met with 
many years ago, and more recently in one of the publi- 
cations of the American Tract Society, from which what 
follows has been taken. It exemplifies in a striking 
manner the danger of putting off for "a more con- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 409 

venient season," the great work of religion. Such 
foolish persons do not sufficiently consider, that it is 
only when Divine help is extended that they can take 
any step in the way of salvation ; and that they cannot 
command a fresh visitation of the Grace of God, but 
are entirely dependent on the Lord's goodness and 
mercy. 

" My children," said the old man, " the words of 
your dying father will be few. I wish them to sink 
deep into your hearts." Then raising himself a little 
in his bed, with a degree of strength which he had not 
been able to command for several of the last weeks of 
his sickness, he proceeded : 

"When young, I enjoyed religious privileges, and 
was the subject of occasional serious reflection. When 
just entering my sixteenth year, religious impressions 
were macle on my mind with unusual force. I seemed 
to hear a voice continually saying to me, Seek religion 
now. I was unhappy; my former amusements lost 
their relish. Still I was not willing wholly to relinquish 
them, and obey the voice which urged me to seek 
religion immediately. One day, after much reflection, 
I deliberately promised to God, that, as soon as the 
season of youthful amusements was past, I would give 
myself to religious pursuits. My anxieties immediately 
left me; I returned to my amusement, and the whole 
subject was soon forgotten. 

" When at twenty-five, the monitory voice returned, 
reminded me of my promise, and again pressed upon 
me the importance of eternal things. Though I had 
not thought of my promise for years, I acknowledged 
its obligations, but an immediate fulfilment seemed 
more impracticable than it did nine years before. I 
vowed with increased solemnity, that, when the cares 



410 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

of a rising family should subside, I would certainly 
attend to the concerns of religion. 

"Again I applied myself to worldly avocations, and 
soon buried all thoughts of the admonition I had re- 
ceived. At fifty, when you, my children, were dimin- 
ishing instead of increasing my cares, this heavenly 
monitor returned. 'Fulfil your promise, seek religion 
now,' was continually pressing upon my mind. I knew 
that I had made such a promise, but I felt dissatisfied 
that its fulfilment should be claimed so soon. I re- 
gretted that I had not attended to the subject before, 
when I could have done it with less difficulty; but 
such was the extent and pressure of my business, that 
to do it then seemed impossible. The subject made 
me unhappy, and, after much deliberation, I sought 
relief to my troubled feelings by most solemnly renew- 
ing my promise to God. I said, when the pressure of 
my business is past, I will devote my whole attention 
to a preparation for eternity. 

"So sooner had I fixed my mind on this course, 
than my anxieties left me ; the strivings of the Spirit 
ceased in my bosom, and ceased for ever. When sick- 
ness warned me of approaching death, I sought to fix 
my feelings on this subject, but it was in vain. There 
was a gloom and terror drawn around religion, at 
which my soul shuddered. I felt that I was forsaken 
of God, but it did not move me. I had no love to God, 
no repentance for sin, nor wish to forsake it. I felt 
nothing but the sullen gloom of despair. I knew I was 
in the hands of a justly offended God, from whom I 
expected no mercy, and could ask none. "With these 
feelings I am now about to enter the eternal world. 
To you, my children, I can only say, Profit by my 
example: quench not the Spirit; seek religion now, 
if you would avoid a miserable eternity ; put not off 

the concerns of your soul till ' ? . The sentence died 

upon his lips ; his strength, which had been all sum- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 411 

moned to make this last effort, suddenly failed ; he fell 
back upon his bed, and with a groan that seemed to 
speak the pains of another world, the immortal spirit 
took its flight from that body which it had inhabited 
nearly fourscore years, to receive according to that it 
had done. 

In the life of John G. Paton, who afterwards spent 
many years laboring among the inhabitants of the New 
Hebrides, an account is given of an infidel whose wife 
was a Roman Catholic, who became unwell and gradu- 
ally sank under great suffering and agony. His blas- 
phemies against God were known and shuddered at by 
all the neighbors. J. G. Paton says : — 

His wife plead with me to visit him. She refused, 
at my suggestion, to call her own priest, so I accom- 
panied her at last. The man refused to hear one word 
about spiritual things, when I mentioned the name of 
Jesus. " The natural man receiveth not the things of 
the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him ! " 
There is a wisdom which is at best earthly, and at 
worst " sensual and devilish." His wife asked me to 
take care of the little money they had, as she would 
not entrust it to her own priest. I visited the poor 
man daily, but his enmity to God and his sufferings 
together seemed to drive him mad. His yells gathered 
crowds on the street. He tore to pieces his very bed- 
clothes, till they had to bind him on the iron bed where 
he lay, foaming and blaspheming. Towards the end 
I plead with him even then to look to the Lord Jesus, 
and asked if I might pray with him? With all his re- 
maining strength he shouted at me — 

u Pray for me to the devil ! " 

Reminding him how he had always denied that there 
was any devil, I suggested that he must surely believe 



412 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

in one now, else he would scarcely make such a request, 
even in mockery. In great rage he cried — 

"Yes, I believe there is a devil, and a God, and a 
just God, too, but I have hated Him in life, and I hate 
Him in death ! " 

With these awful words, he entered into eternity, 
but his shocking death produced a very serious impres- 
sion for good, especially amongst young men, in the 
district where his character was known. 

How much more cheering is the case of Henri Heine, 
who had been one of the most skeptical and cynical 
writers of his age. He passed through terrible tor- 
ments caused by disease of the spinal marrow. 

One day, as a friend was calling upon him, he said : — 

If I could only walk on cratches, do you know where 
I would go ? 
No. 

Straight to the church. 
You jest. 
No, no ; straight to the church. 

His illness continued, and this is the narrative of 
another of his friends, who visited him some years 
later, in 1849 :— 

I found Heine in Paris, but in what a state! He 
was lying on a mattress spread upon the floor. The 
poor man was almost wholly blind, and his body was 
a prey to the most poignant anguish ; his withered 
arms stretched lifeless by his side ; his disease incura- 
ble. His back, burned in spots by the surgeons, was 
one sore. He seemed the very picture of pain ; and yet 
his fair and noble visage had a strange aspect of peace 
and submission. He talked of his sufferings as if they 
were those of another. For a time I could not under- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 413 

stand so much peace and resignation in the midst of 
such an experience, especially in the case of one who 
had declared himself an atheist. 

He was not long in giving me the explanation. A 
smile upon his lips, he described to me yet further the 
dreadful sufferings he endured, and after having said 
that he should never get better, he proceeded in that 
steady and powerful voice which still remained despite 
his utter weakness : 

" My friend, believe me, it is Henri Heine who tells 
you so, after having reflected on it for years, and after 
having reconsidered and maturely weighed what has 
been written upon this subject by men of all sorts, 
believe me, I have reached the conclusion that there is 
a God who judges our conduct, that the soul is im- 
mortal, and that after this life there is another, when 
the good are rewarded and the wicked punished. Yes, 
this is what Henri Heine says, who has so often denied 
the Holy Ghost. If ever you have doubted these grand 
truths, fling from you these doubts, and learn by my 
example that nothing but simple faith in God's mercy 
can sustain, without repining, atrocious pains. With- 
out that faith, convinced as I am that my bodily state 
is desperate, I should long since have put an end to my 
days." 

Profoundly moved, I seized his hand. He went on : 

" There are fools, who, having passed their lives in 
skepticism and mistake, and denied God in their words 
and acts, have not courage to own that they were 
wholly deceived; as for me, I feel compelled to declare 
that it is a cursed falsehood which long made me blind. 
Only at present I see clearly ; and any man who knows 
me must confess that it is not because my faculties have 
become weak, for never was my mind more clear and 
strong than it is this moment." 

John G. Paton tells us in his life, of an infidel lee- 



414 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

turer, residing in his district, who became very ill. He 
says : — " His wife called me in to visit him. I found 
him possessed of a circulating library of infidel books, 
by which he sought to pervert unwary minds. 

" Though he had talked and lectured much against 
the Gospel, he did not at all really understand its mes- 
sage. He had read the Bible, but only to find food for 
ridicule. Now supposed to be dying, he confessed that 
his mind was full of terror as to the future. After 
several visits and frequent conversations and prayers, 
he became genuinely and deeply interested, drank in 
God's message of salvation, and cried aloud with many 
tears for pardon and peace. He bitterly lamented the 
evil he had done, and called in all the infidel literature 
that he had in circulation, with the purpose of destroy- 
ing it. He began to speak solemnly to any of his old 
companions that came to see him, telling them what 
he had found in the Lord Jesus. At his request I 
bought and brought to him a Bible, which he received 
with great joy, saying, • This is the book for me now;' 
and adding, ' Since you were here last, I gathered 
together all my infidel books, my wife locked the door, 
till she and my daughter tore them to pieces, and I 
struck the light that reduced the pile to ashes.' 

"As long as he lived this man was unwearied and un- 
flinching in testifying, to all that crossed his path, how 
much Jesus Christ had been to his heart and soul; and 
he died in jiossession of a full and blessed hope." 

The Memoirs which Daniel Wheeler has preserved 
of his own life, contain an interesting illustration of the 
danger of concluding, that because a person is willing 
to die, it is sufficient proof that he has passed through 
that spiritual change which is necessary to prepare him 
for happiness hereafter. 

During the days of his estrangement from God, he 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 415 

had enlisted in the British army, and was sent about 
the year 17.94, with a detachment of troops to Holland, 
to operate against the French, with whom England 
was then at war. The English forces were inferior in 
number to the French and were forced to retreat before 
them under the most distressing circumstances. They 
were often poorly supplied with shelter and provisions ; 
and in addition to those who were killed in battles and 
skirmishes, many perished through exposure and from 
a peculiar fatal form of typhus fever which attacked 
the disheartened troops. Daniel Wheeler gives a 
pathetic account of his own sufferings from fatigue and 
sickness. The retreating army had reached the town 
of Nimeguen, where they were crossing River Waal 
on a floating bridge, amid frequent interruptions caused 
by the fire of the French upon it. When his own 
regiment came in sight of the bridge, his gradually in- 
creasing illness became so severe that he was unable 
to proceed, and leaving the ranks, leaned against the 
wall of a house. As he beheld the last of the rear of 
the regiment pass and leave him behind, there seemed 
no hope left, but, he says, " in adorable mercy, my 
gracious Lord was pleased to put into the hearts of 
some of the regiment to send two of the men back to 
endeavor to find me out, and render every assistance in 
their power." These men placed him in charge of a 
picket of cavalry, which was left to cover the retreat of 
the army through the city ; and in the morning he was 
placed on board a vessel provided for the reception of 
the sick and disabled. In two or three days they 
reached the town of Rhenin, close to the bank of the 
Rhine, and he was transferred to an old monastery that 
had been fitted up for a hospital. 

Whilst in this hospital, he says, " I was brought so 
near the brink of the grave, that, to all appearance, no 
alteration for the better could be expected. I am not 
aware that I had even a wish to live ; but my mind 



416 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

was so reconciled to the prospect of death, which then 
seemed near and inevitable, that I had given my watch 
into the hands of an acquaintance, with a request, that 
he would inform my family where I had ended my 
days. Indeed, when some expectation of recovery was 
at last held out, I could not help looking forward with 
a feeling of regret, to the probability of having to en- 
counter the series of hardships and distress to which I 
should unavoidably be subjected." 

Many years after, in commenting on his feelings at 
this time, Daniel Wheeler makes the following instruc- 
tive remarks : " I cannot avoid adverting to that period 
of my illness, when my mind felt so reconciled to the 
prospect of death, as before mentioned ; and I now fully 
believe from what I have since been mercifully favored 
to experience, that so far from being in any degree 
prepared for such an awful event, a deceptive feeling 
must have been superinduced by the state of torpor 
and insensibility in which I then was, and which 
totally benumbed any better feelings and desires as to 
the future. To this may be added a predominating 
fear of having to endure more of those sufferings, of 
which I had no small share ; which, the probability of 
being again restored to health seemed to banish every 
hope of escaping. Truly awful is the thought which 
this view of my then lost condition occasions. And 
yet, when my end was apparently so near and inevita- 
ble, if such questions as are frequently proposed on the 
like occasions had been put to me, I have little doubt 
but satisfactory answers would have been returned, as 
to my belief and hope in the essential truths of the 
Gospel. But alas! this would have been from hearsay 
and traditional report, and not from any heart-felt 
saving knowledge of ray own ; for it is now plain to 
my understanding, that no man can have saving faith 
in Jesus Christ, who is unacquainted with, and does 
not walk in the light of that Divine Spirit, which is so 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 417 

justly styled the Spirit of faith. It is through this 
alone, that the death and sufferings of Christ and his 
whole sacrifice for sin are availing, and truly applied to 
all those, who through faith lay hold of Him, the true 
Light and Saviour of them that believe in his inward 
and spiritual appearance." "A man may yield an 
assent to all the great and solemn truths of Christianity; 
the miraculous birth, holy life, cruel sufferings, igno- 
minious death, and glorious resurrection and ascension 
of our blessed Redeemer ; he may believe, in the ab- 
stract, in his inward spiritual appearance in the hearts 
of mankind by his Holy Spirit; and yet he may fall 
short of the prize immortal, — unless he comes to wit- 
ness the saving operations of the Holy Spirit in his 
own heart, and to know thereby, through faith in it, a 
purifying preparation for the kingdom of righteous- 
ness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." 

The deceptive quiet which is sometimes the result 
of the benumbing of the faculties on the approach of 
death, and of which Daniel Wheeler speaks, is no more 
an evidence of the peace and favor of God than is the 
anxious concern which at others covers the mind at this 
solemn season, a proof of the Divine displeasure. The 
previous course of life furnishes much more reliable 
ground for confidence as to the state of preparation for 
futurity, than do the words of those whose faculties 
may be weakened by disease, or by the decay of nature. 
Yet even those who have lived godly and upright lives 
are often led to review the ground on which they are 
building their hopes, and made sensible, as expressed 
in his last hours by that dedicated minister, Samuel 
Emlen, that " it is a serious thing to die." 



27 



418 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ILL USTRA TIONS. 

" Going up or down?" — Electric light — The wounded ducks — 
Brahmin and the Miscroscope — Evil imagination — The Bulga- 
rian student — Instructive hints — Choosing — Lady sunshine — 
Settling differences — Daily duties — The skeptic's creed— Poor 
Nancy — "Is my case ready?" — Trying to save too much — Bless- 
ing of adversity — Faith in the pilot. 

There are many incidents of apparently little impor- 
tance that may be converted into means of instruction. 
In some of these cases it is safe to say that the Spirit 
of Christ uses them as means of warning, or awakening 
the soul that is too thoughtless about the great object 
of life : A preparation for eternity. 

A writer in one of our periodicals says : — 
Recently I was on a street car, when it occurred to 
me that I was going in the wrong direction. Asking 
the conductor whether I was going up or down, he re- 
plied, " You are going down." As I wanted to go up- 
town instead of down-town, I left the car immediately, 
and took one that was going up. The question was one 
that seemed to echo itself, "Am I going up or down ?" 
There is more than one kind of travelling — there is a 
thought travel. Are our thoughts taking us down or 
up ? - It strikes me these days that a good many people 
are on the wrong car. I was in a comfortable seat, 
only I was going down instead of up. Spiritual travel 
is of the utmost importance. We first want to settle 
where we want to go. Surely we want to go on unto 
perfection. Then we ought 'to make sure we are on 
the rio-ht road. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 419 

Another describes interestingly the lesson taught by 
an incandescent light : — 

Sitting at the door, resting, and slowly recovering 
from a serious illness, I learned this lesson. Just op- 
posite, on the other corner, Avas an incandescent light. 
As the evening came on, all became dark. But, by and 
by, there was a slight indication of light, but of no 
value, but, as I kept watching, that invisible carbon in 
that little glass bulb began to grow brighter, and in a 
few minutes there was a white, beautiful light, as clear 
as though it was a stray beam direct from the sun itself, 
and the traveller found his pathway lightened as he 
went homeward. Well, no hand touched that fine car- 
bon wire, but away off there was a dynamo, made up 
of steel and iron, of copper and wire ; near by was an 
engine, and the globes in that dynamo were made to 
revolve with great speed. From that dynamo there 
stretched a single wire, away up above the house-tops. 
But what of all this ? That engine was hard metal ! 
That dynamo had no light ! That wire was dull and 
inanimate. But from that dynamo there was struck a 
spark ! That mysterious, secret, unseen agency we call 
electricity ! Along the wire it sped and touched that 
invisible carbon, and a new power w T as imparted, and 
it blazed with brightness and beauty. 

Thus I have seen a man, steeped in sin, the invisible 
soul dark, the mind clouded, neither light nor useful- 
ness in all the life ! But as we watch him, we see a 
change. He becomes clean in his habits; his life is 
different — attractive, w 7 here it had been repulsive. He 
goes in other company ; his words are purer ; at home 
he is kind where formerly he was cruel. He was pre- 
viously avoided ; now his company is sought. He be- 
comes an example instead of a cause of reproach. All 
is changed. The very same man, the very same mind, 
the very same living soul ! What could have produced 
this wonderful transformation ? 



420 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

A strange, unseen, mysterious power touched that 
man. The " Holy Spirit*' we call it. That principle 
of life reached that mind, and that soul. At first it was 
hut a glimmer, outwardly at least. But that mighty 
power is making its influence felt, and the man becomes 
a new creature. Where there was mental darkness, 
spiritual blindness and cruelty, there is light, sight and 
love. All see the marvellous change. 

The Presbyterian Herald relates the following anec- 
dote, told by Dr. Miller, of Princeton, which he used 
in his lectures to illustrate some point in his teach- 
ings :— 

A celebrated judge in Virginia was, in his earlier 
years, skeptical as to the truth of the Bible, and espe- 
cially as to the reality of experimental religion He had 
a favorite servant, who accompanied him in his travels 
around his circuit. As they passed from court-house 
to court-house, they frequently conversed on the subject 
of religion, the servant Harry venturing at times to re- 
monstrate with his master against his infidelity. 

As the judge had confidence in Harry's honesty and 
sincerity, he asked him a great many questions, as to 
how he felt and what he thought on various points. 
Amongst other things, Harry told his master that he 
was very often sorely tempted and tried by the deviL 
The judge asked Harry to explain to him how it hap- 
pened that the devil attacked him (Harry), who was so 
pious a man, so sorely, whilst he allowed himself, who 
was an infidel and a sinner, to pass unnoticed and un- 
tempted. Harry asked. "Are you right sure, master, 
that he does let you pass without troubling you ?" 
" Certainly I am," replied the judge ; " I have no deal- 
ings with him at all. I do not even so much as know 
that there is any such being in existence as the deviL 
If there is any such being, he never troubles me." 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 421 

" Well," said Harry, " I know that there is a devil, 
and that he tries me sorely at times." 

A day or two afterwards, when the judge had gotten 
through his docket, he concluded to go on a hunt for 
wild ducks on one of the streams which lay across his 
road homeward. Harry accompanied him. As they ap- 
proached the river they espied a flock of ducks quietly 
floating on its surface. The judge stealthily crept up 
the bank and fired upon them, killing two or three and 
wounding as many others. He at once threw down 
his gun and made strenuous eflbrts with the aid of 
clubs and stones to secure the wounded ducks, whilst 
he permitted the dead ones to float on, for a time, un- 
noticed by him. 

Harry, as he sat on the seat of the carriage, watched 
his master's movements with deep interest, and when 
he returned said to him, " Massa, whilst you was a 
splashin' in de water after dem wounded ducks, and 
lettin' de dead ones float on, it jist come into my mind 
why it is dat de debil troubles me so much, whilst he 
lets you alone. You are like the dead ducks ; he's sure 
he's got you safe. I'm like the wounded ones, trying 
to get away from him, and he's afraid I'll do it, so he 
makes all de fuss after me, and jist lets you float on 
down the stream. He knows he can get you any time ; 
but he knows its now or never wid me. If you were to 
begin to flutter a little, and shows signs like you were 
going to get away from him, he would make jist as big 
a splashin' after you as he done after me." 

The illustration struck the learned judge with great 
force, and led him to investigate the grounds of his 
skepticism, and through Harry's instrumentality, he 
was finally brought to sit with him at the feet of Jesus, 
and learn of Him. 

The illustration is a homely one, but it sets forth a 
great truth in the experience of those who have set out 
in the Christian course. They must expect to be as- 



422 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

sailed by satan as they were never before. If he fails 
in causing their fall by the use of one form of tempta- 
tion, he will try another. 

A Brahmin in India, whose religion strictly prohibits 
hira from eating any animal food, or from taking away 
the life of any living creature for that end, was shown 
one day by means of a microscope that the vegetable 
food he was eating was full of minute little insects, so 
that he crushed whole swarms of them at every mouth- 
ful. The microscope made this too plain for even a 
Brahmin to doubt or argue against; what then could 
he do ? Alarmed at his position, and finding no other 
way left by which he could escape from the evidence 
of his very senses — evidence that went to prove him 
defiled by the horrid sin of taking animal life every 
time he took food, in spite of all his religion — he flung 
from him the microscope, and broke it into a hundred 
pieces ! And now he could eat on in quiet. 

Young people, have you ever broken the microscope f 
When sin has been pointed out to you ; when you have 
been shown that your heart is full of enmity to God 
the Father, and to the Beloved Son, and the Spirit of 
Grace, have you not often risen up and thrust the dis- 
agreeable conviction away by rushing off to some 
amusement ? Was not this " breaking the micro- 
scope?" When shown your danger of hell — eternal 
hell — have you not often sought to put aside the con- 
sideration of the subject rather than to settle the ques- 
tion honestly ? Were you not the Brahmin that broke 
the microscope ? 

When troubled by the haunting thought, " I am still 
out of Christ, and so not safe," how often have you 
made your escape by forgetting the God with whom you 
have to do? When forced to admit that you had none 
of the marks of real conversion, how many times have 
you put aside the Bible, or a text of the Bible, or the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 423 

words of a friend, or the book that flashed in that un- 
pleasant conviction ? Was not this "breaking the mi- 
croscope ?" 

You have been reproved for neglect of duty, and 
could not defend yourself. You felt it too true that you 
had not been attentive to your lessons, to the will of 
your parents, to the directions of your teacher. But 
still — you disliked this feeling, and determined to get 
quit of it. How ? By breaking the microscope that showed 
your fault — by putting out of mind and memory what 
had been pressed upon your consideration and had 
galled your conscience. 

I met a man some days ago who said to me he had 
so injured certain nerves of his eyes — according to the 
instruction of a prominent oculist, by excessive smoking 
of tobacco — that there was continually before his sight 
a small black speck, which lit upon everything he be- 
held. If he looked at the bright sun, or fair moon, or 
beautiful landscape, or white lily, or into the face of 
any man, woman or child, there was the ugly, deterio- 
rating, black spot caused by his defective vision. It 
mattered not at what or whomsoever he gazed, the first 
thing to attract his thought was this black spot. I 
could but think while listening to the sadly afflicted 
man, oh, how many there are, who, by an excessive use 
of an evil imagination, have so weakened and, in many 
cases, entirely destroyed the sensitive organ of moral 
perception, that now the} 7 can scarcely look upon any- 
thing God has made, no matter how fair and sacred 
and holy, without beholding at the same time some 
black spot which mars for them the fair design. Let 
one allow the thoughts to dwell frequently on that 
which is evil, the imagination to revel amid scenes that 
are impure and unholy, and ere long the vision of the 
soul will become so diseased and unable to see aright, 
that it will be far beyond the skill and power of any 



424 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKB. 

human being to restore it to what it was in the days 
of innocent childhood. Only by applying to the divine 
Physician and continuing to anoint the eyes with the 
eye-salve He has prescribed, can a perfect cure be 
effected. 

F. E. Loring, in The Independent, gives a lively and 
interesting account of the efforts used by a poor Bul- 
garian peasant boy to obtain an education. His home 
was a little hut made of mud and stones ; and his father 
was so poor he could hardly get food enough for his 
large family. Their clothes cost little, as they all wore 
sheep-skins, made up with the wool outside. He was 
a bright, ambitious boy, with a great desire for study. 
And when he heard of Robert College at Constantino- 
ple, he determined to go there. So he told his father 
one day, when they were away together tending sheep, 
that he had decided to go to college. The poor shep- 
herd looked at his son in amazement, and said : — 

" You can't go to college ; it's all I can do to feed 
you children; I can't give you a piastre." 

"I don't want a piastre," the boy replied; " but I do 
want to go to college." 

" Besides,'' the shepherd continued, " you can't go to 
college in sheep-skins." 

But he had made up his mind, and he went — in 
sheep-skins and without a piastre. It was a weary 
march of a hundred and fifty miles to Constantinople, 
but the boy was willing to do anything for an educa- 
tion. He found kind friends all along the way, who 
gave him food and shelter at night. So he trudged 
sturdily on day after day until he reached Constantino- 
ple. As he was not one to let the grass grow under 
his feet, he soon found his way to the college, went into 
the kitchen and inquired for the President. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 425 

He asked for work; but the President Kindly told 
him there was none, and that he must go away. "Oh, 
no," the boy said, "I can't do that. I didn't come 
here to go away." When the President insisted, 
his answer was the same: "I didn't come here to 
go away." 

He had no idea of giving up. " The King of France, 
with forty thousand men went up a hill, and so came 
down again;" but it was no part of his plan. to go 
marching home again. And three hours later the 
President saw him in the yard patiently waiting. 

Some of the students advised him to see Professor 
Long. " He knows all about you Bulgarian fellows." 
The Professor, like the President, said there was no 
work for him and he had better go away, But he 
bravely stuck to his text : " I didn't come here to go 
away." 

The boy's courage and perseverance pleased the 
Professor so much that he urged the President to give 
him a trial. So it was decided that he should take 
care of the fires. That meant carrying wood, and a 
great deal of it, up three or four flights of stairs, 
taking away the ashes, and keeping all the things neat 
and in order. 

The President thought he would soon get tired of 
such hard work. But a boy who had walked a hun- 
dred and fifty miles for the sake of an education, and 
was not ashamed to go to college in sheep-skins and 
without a piastre, would not be easily discouraged. 

After a few days, as he showed no signs of " weaken- 
ing," the President went to him and said : " My poor 
boy, you cannot stay here this winter. This room is 
not comfortable, and I have no other to give you." 

"Oh, I'm perfectly satisfied," he replied. "It's the 
best room I ever had in my life. I didn't come here 
to go away." 



426 FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMAEKS. 

Evidently there was no getting rid of him, and he was 
allowed to stay. 

After he gained his point he settled down to busi- 
ness, and asked some of the students to help him with 
his lessons in the evenings. They formed a syndicate 
of six. That was good old Dr. Hamlin's way, so none 
of the boys found it a burden to help him one evening 
in a week. It was a success on both sides; the boys 
were patient and kind, and the newcomer was as pains- 
taking and persevering in his lessons as in other things, 
so that he made great progress. 

After some weeks he asked to be examined to enter 
the preparatory class. 

"Do you expect," asked the President, "to compete 
with those boys who have many weeks the start of you? 
And," he continued, "you can't go into class in sheep- 
skins, all the boys would cry ' baa.' " 

"Yes, sir, I know," he said "but the boys have 
promised to help me out. One will give me a coat, 
another a trousers, aud so on." 

Nothing could keep back a boy like that, who over- 
came all the obstacles in his way. 

After the examination, the President said to Profes- 
sor Long: 

" Can that boy get into that dass ? " 

" Yes," was the reply. " But that class can't get into 
that boy." 

It was not all plain sailing yet. Although he had 
passed the examination he had no money, and the rules 
of the college required each student to pay two hundred 
dollars a year. That was a question in mathematics 
that puzzled the good President. 

"I wish," said Professor Long, "that the college 
would hire this boy to help me in the laboratory and 
give him a hundred dollars a year. He has jDroved 
himself very deft and neat in helping me there, 



FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMARKS. 427 

and it would give me much more time for other 
things." 

So he "became the Professor's assistant, and was per- 
fectly delighted with his good fortune. But where was 
the other hundred coming from? 

President Washburn sent an account of his poverty 
and great desire for an education, to Dr. Hamlin, the 
ex-President of Robert College, who was in America. 
The Doctor told the story to a friend one day, and she 
was so much interested that she said: 

" I would like to give the other hundred." 

And that's the way he gained the wish of his 
heart. 

He proved the truth of the old saying, that "where 
there is a will there is a way." But his way was so 
hedged in that no boy without a strong will and great 
perseverance would have found it. 

Of course such a boy would succeed. To-day he 
is head master of one of the schools in his own 
country. 

C. H. Spurgeon, says : — by keeping our eyes open, 
and judging things upon Scriptural principles, Ave may 
often be forewarned in our dealings with certain char- 
acters. One man cannot see further into a mill-stone 
than another, and yet shrewdness sees where the ordi- 
nary observer is in the dark. A prudent man, with 
the fear of God before his eyes, is almost a prophet. 
Two or three instances are before our mind at this 
moment. 

A friend met the deacon of a church in the street — 
a man whom he much esteemed. The aforesaid deacon 
begged the loan of one hundred pounds, and the friend 
would have lent it to him with pleasure; but in the 
course of conversation the deacon observed, " Other 
people might rob you; but you know me as an old 
pilgrim. I am, I trust, quite past temptation." The 



428 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

money was refused, for the friend said to himself, 
" Past temptation ? Past temptation ? Why he must he 
quite ignorant of his own heart. He must surely he a 
hypocrite." And so he was. He knew that he was 
hopelessly involved even when he was seeking a loan 
from one who could not afford to lose the money; he- 
fore that day was over he had failed. 

A man who stood high in the city observed, with 
great satisfaction, that he had in a single morning 
cleared thirty thousand pounds by a speculation. A 
brother merchant remarked that he ought to be very 
grateful to Providence for such good fortune ; where- 
upon the successful merchant snapped his fingers, and 
said, " Providence ! pooh ! that for Providence ! I can 
do a deal better for myself than Providence can ever 
do for me." He who heard the observation walked 
away, and resolved never to deal with such a man 
again except upon cash principles, for he felt sure that 
a crash would come sooner or later. Great was the 
indignation of the man who stood high in the city 
when he was told, "If you and I are to have dealings 
it must be on strictly ready-money terms." He was 
insulted; he would not endure it; he would go to 
another house. That other house welcomed his cus- 
tom, and in due time it was repaid by losing many 
thousands. 

A patient put himself under a surgeon's care for 
professional examination and treatment. He says, to 
begin with : " I hope you won't hurt me, Doctor." 
The surgeon's answer is : " But what if I cairt help 
you without hurting you ? " "Oh ! then you must hurt 
me; for I want to be helped even if I have to be hurt 
in the helping." There is choosing, yet not choosing; 
choosing relief from pain, if relief be safe as well as 
practicable, but not choosing relief from pain if pain be 
a necessity, as a means to a permanent cure. And if 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS 429 

this be so in our trust of an earthly counsellor, wher- 
ever our bodily health or our mortal life is involved, 
why should it not be the same in our trust of an all- 
wise and an all-loving Father, wherever our material 
as well as our spiritual interests are involved — beyond 
our limits of knowledge, even though not beyond our 
limits of longing! We wish for freedom from poverty; 
but what if poverty be best for us ? We wish for full 
health ; but what if sickness be to our advantage ? We 
wish for love or friendship, for favor or renown ; but 
what if desolateness and disfavor be the only state in 
which we can gain and grow in the likeness of God, 
and into the possibilities of his highest plans in our 
behalf? We wish for the prolonged life of one dearer 
to us than life ; but what if God sees it to be better for 
that dear one, and for ourselves, that death should now 
intervene between us and that one so dear ? We wish 
for an end to this endless struggle of unsatisfied desire ; 
but what if, in God's sight, our safety and our hope are 
dependent on our struggling unceasingly? Dare we 
choose as to these things, even though our human 
hearts do choose in them, each and all, continually ? 
We choose, yet do not choose. God knows the choice 
of our longing natures, and God knows also the choice 
of our heart of hearts, below our innermost human 
nature. 

It had been one of those days on which everything 
goes contrary, and I had come home tired and discour- 
aged. As I sank into a chair I groaned, " Everything 
looks dark, dark, dark ! " " Why don't you turn your 
face to the light, auntie dear?" said my little niece 
who was standing unperceived beside me. 

" Turn your face to the light !" The words set me 
thinking. That was just what I had not been doing. 
I had persistently kept my face in the opposite direc- 
tion, refusing to see the faintest glimmer of brightness. 



430 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

Artless little comforter ! She did not know what heal- 
ing she had brought. Years have gone by since then, 
but the simple words have never been forgotten. 

The Independent of Twelfth Month 10th, 1885, con- 
tained a notice of the late Judge Foster, of Connecticut, 
at one time Senator of the United States, and Vice- 
President on the death of President Lincoln. In this 
it was told how he once settled a dispute; and the 
account shows that he was entitled to the blessing pro- 
nounced upon the peacemakers. It says : — 

We heard it lately stated of him that while on the 
bench in Connecticut, a few years before his death, a 
case of great importance came before him on appeal at 
a session of the Court at Bridgeport. Two brothers 
had been in a bitter quarrel for years. At last they 
came to blows, which were to end in a double law suit. 
Each seemed to be filled full of hatred of the other, 
and each was determined to fight the battle out in a 
public court-room to the bitter end, no matter how 
much time and money might be consumed. The day 
came for trial, the court-room was crowded, and the 
contest promised to be a very bitter and a very angry 
one, which would disgrace both parties, lawyers in- 
cluded. Friends were present on both sides, and the 
excitement was intense. Judge Foster was deeply 
moved by this troublesome case. He knew enough 
about it to believe that both of the brothers had done 
wrong; were, perhaps, equally guilty, and that any 
decision in the courts, however just, would not settle 
the case at all. Judge Foster in thinking the matter 
over, felt it to be his duty to try and settle the case with 
the parties out of court, and he immediately invited 
the two brothers to come before him privately. He 
kindly and fairly presented the case from both legal 
and Christian standpoint. He told them plainly they 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 431 

were both in the wrong, and were doing a foolish and 
an nn-christian act in going into court with such a case. 
He appealed to them to settle it then and there ; to 
forgive each other, and resolve to live in peace and 
brotherly affection the rest of their lives. The Judge 
then, in most touching and impressive language, called 
upon them both, then and there, to cease this unseemly 
contest. He then, as if divinely inspired, turned and 

said : " Will you Mr. , now promise to forgive and 

forget the past, and love your brother and treat him 
kindly the remainder of your life ?" His immediate 
response was: "I will." Then turning to the other 
brother, Judge Foster said, with tears of joy in his 
eyes : " "Will you, Mr. , do the same ?" His an- 
swer was : " I will." " Now," said the Judge, " shake 
hands." They did so; and thus the great quarrel was 
happily ended. 

The Independent adds : — " There are thousands of 
similar cases — if not as bad, which ought to be settled 
before these closing days of another year have passed 
away. Act now ; death on one side or the other may 
come to prevent forever the performance of such an 
imperative duty." 

A somewhat different yet an effective way, of settling 
a difference, was taken by a Friend, R. Tabor, of New 
England, to whom two of his neighbors applied, telling 
him they had agreed to refer to him a difference in 
their settlement of their accounts with each other. To 
his query how much the difference was, the claimant 
replied fifty cents. " Is that all ?" he asked of the sup- 
posed debtor; who answered in the affirmative. E. 
then took that amount from his pocket and said, " I 
am too busy to-day to be hindered for a matter of fifty 
cents ;" and, handing it to the claimant, added, " There 
take that, and do you go home and attend to your 
business; and I will to mine." He took the change 
and they departed. 



432 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

The anecdote is told of the excellent Cecil, that 
calling one day, to see one of his parishioners, a black- 
smith, who was diligently at work in his shop, the 
latter began to apologize for his appearance, and that 
he was not suitably dressed to receive his pastor, when 
Cecil pleasantly, but seriously stopped his apologies 
by saying, " May the Lord, when He comes, find me, 
as I find you, diligent and busy with your appropriate 
work." 

And when a lady once said to Wesley, " Suppose 
you knew you were to die at two o'clock to-morrow 
night, how would you spend the intervening time ?" he 
replied, "Why, just as I intend to spend it now." 

And so when the celebrated dark-day came over 
New England, in 1780, and when it was proposed that 
the Legislature of Connecticut should adjourn because 
they thought the Day of Judgment was approaching, 
the memorable reply of good old Abraham Davenport, 
was, " If the Day of Judgment is not approaching there 
is no reason for adjournment; and if it is, I choose to 
be found doing my duty, so bring in the candles !" 

"I don't believe in a personal God," remarked a 
skeptic to R. F. Jones, a Welsh Presbyterian minister, 
who was a fellow-traveller in a railroad train between 
Toledo and Cleveland some time ago. 

"Why not?" asked the minister. 

" Because I can't see Him. His existence is not 
demonstrable, capable of proof like facts of science." 

The minister asked, " Don't you believe that you are 
alive, and that I am alive ?" 

" Yes," he answered. 

" Why do you believe it ?" 

" Because I can see you move." 

"Well," said the minister, "the locomotive that is 
drawing this train also moves — is it alive." 

" No," he answered, " but the engineer who runs it 
is alive." 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 433 

" Please tell me," said the minister, " whether the 
engineer is a part of the machinery or a living person." 

" He is a living person," replied the skeptic 

" Now sir," retorted the minister, " consistency is a 
jewel — please tell me why you attribute the movement 
of the locomotive to a living person, but deny that God, 
who sets the universe in motion, is a living person ? 

He could not answer. Silenced on this argument 
he branched off into another objection against Chris- 
tianity. » 

" What I hate," said he, " in orthodoxy is this eter- 
nal talk about creed, creed, creed, thrust upon us every- 
where and at all times." 

" What do you mean by a man's creed ?" asked his 
opponent. 

" I understand by a creed that which a man believes." 

" Well, sir," rejoined the minister, " you have as 
much creed as I have. I believe there is a personal God; 
you believe the opposite doctrine. I believe in the in- 
carnation of the Son of God for our redemption ; you 
believe the opposite. I believe in the fallen estate of 
man ; you believe the opposite. What difference is 
there in the bulk of our creed, only that I believe one 
side of the question and you believe the other ? I^ow, 
sir, when we come to that point you have just as much 
creed on your side as I have on mine ; but you want 
the right to advocate your sentiments, but wish to deny 
me the right on my side." 

He was silenced again. 

" But," said the skeptic, resuming the attack by 
another argument, common at this day, " Christianity 
is not capable of scientific demonstration. When we 
take the sciences all truths are capable of demonstration 
by experiments which prove them. You can put them 
"to the test. I take peculiar pleasure in the study of 
chemistry. Its propositions are plain and capable of 

28 



434 FOOTPRINTS AND WATMARKS. 

proof by facts and experiments which appeal to the 
senses." 

"You have studied chemistry, have you?" inquired 
the minister. 

" Yes, sir," he answered. 

" Well," resumed the minister, " if you are a student 
of chemistry you are acquainted with the fact that 
charcoal, coal and the diamond are the same in their 
molecules — namely carbon. Now can you take a mole- 
cule out of the charcoal and put it into the diamond 
and get a perfect thing of it ? 

He acknowledged he could not. 

" Where, then," said the minister, " is your demon- 
stration in chemistry? But so far as Christianity is 
concerned your objection is not valid, for it is capable 
of spiritual demonstration. You can try it and find it 
all that God has represented it to be. God says to all, 
<0 taste and see.' Try it, and experience will attest its 
truth. Millions have put it to the test of their experi- 
ence, and have found it ' the power of God unto salvation 
to every one that believeth' " 

The skeptic then, in a somewhat conciliatory spirit, 
acknowledged that his father and mother were orthodox 
Christian people. 

The minister inquired, "Were they good people." 

"Yes, excellent; my father was an excellent, good 
man." 

" Well," inquired the minister, " what practical bene- 
fit do you get by changing the religion of your parents 
for skepticism ? "Does it make you a better man ? Are 
you a better husband to your wife ; a better father to 
your children ; a better citizen in the community in 
which you live ?" 

He frankly acknowledged he was not. 

"Have you a watch?" inquired the minister. 

" Yes, an excellent time-piece," he said, taking it out 
and displaying a fine gold watch. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 435 

"It keeps good time, does it?" 

"Yes." 

" Well, how would you trade it off? Would it not 
be for a better time-piece and more valuable, rather 
than an inferior one." 

"Yes, certainly." 

"Here again," retorted the minister, "you are not 
acting consistently with reason ; for you have changed 
the creed of your parents for one that, by your own 
confession, does not benefit you at all !" 

He had no reply to make. 

"Now, my brother," concluded the minister, "why 
do you embrace Infidelity in preference to the faith of 
your parents ? Is it not only because you love sin, and 
the first principle of Christianity is holiness — opposition 
to sin. Is it not so ?" 

He was speechless. 

The train stopped and they separated. The skeptic 
seeming loath to part on unfriendly terms, insisted upon 
the minister repairing to a neighboring dining-saloon 
and enjoying a good supper at his expense. 

God grant that the conversation may result in some 
good, and lead the skeptic to discard the sophisms and 
delusions of Infidelity, and anchor his soul, drifting 
without pilot or compass on life's troubled sea to the 
Rock of Ages, and find in Christ " a hfding place from 
the wind and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of 
waters in a dry place, as the shadow of a great Rock 
in a weary land !" 

In one of the towns on the banks of the Ohio River, 
there dwelt years ago a just judge, honorable in life as 
well as in title, and a poor lone African woman. 

The judge was rich and highly esteemed. He dwelt 
in a mansion, not so fine as to repel, nor so splendid as 
to make him the envy of the foolish — large enough to 
be the social centre of the town, and plain enough to 



436 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMA&ES. 

make every one feel it a home ; and his heart was in 
keeping with his house — large and open. 

The poor African lived in a cabin on an alley, all 
alone, without chick or child, kith or kin. Her own 
hands ministered amply to her wants while she had her 
health. Her home though poor and small was always 
tidy. She belonged to the church of which the judge 
was an officer. But it so happened that they had never 
had free conversation together about the things of the 
kingdom. 

At last she received a severe injury from which she 
never recovered ; and for many weary months before 
her death, was dependent and helpless, alone and bed- 
rid. During this time the judge's ample table and 
abundant wardrobe had contributed a full share to the 
comfort of the poor woman. But for a long time, for 
one reason and another, he put offa personal visit which 
he fully purposed to make her ; until at last one day as 
he thought of the cheeriness of his own pleasant home, 
the contrast between this and the loneliness and deso- 
lation of the poor woman's cabin came into his mind, 
and filled him with sympathy for her. " Who can tell 
but I may cheer her a little, and perhaps by a little 
timely sympathy, save her from repining at her hard 
lot ? Possibly, too, I may be able to throw some light 
upon the rugged pathway along which she is going to 
the kingdom."' 

The judge loved to do good. So, taking a well-filled 
basket, he sallied forth to visit the poor woman. As 
the door opened, he was struck with the air of neatness 
in the cabin. If she was bed-rid, some kind hand sup- 
plied the place of hers. But again, as he looked around, 
and contrasted the social joys of his own ample man- 
sion, where the voice of children as well as the pres- 
ence of books and friends made all cheerful and happy, 
with the solitude of the poor woman alone here from 
morning to night, and from night to morning, only as 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 437 

one and another called out of kindness to keep her 
from suffering, his heart filled again with sadness and 
sympathy. 

Seating himself on the stool at the side of her cot, he 
began speaking to her in words of condolence : " It 
must be hard for you, Nancy, to be shut up here alone 
so many days and w T eeks." 

" no, thank God, massa judge, the good Lord 
keeps me from feelin' bad. I'se happy now as ever I 
was in all my life." 

" But, Nancy, lying here from morning till night and 
from night till morning, all alone and racked with pain, 
dependent upon others for everything, do you not get 
tired and down-hearted, and think your lot a hard one 
to bear ?" 

" Well, I'se 'pendent on others, that's sure, 'deed I 
is, and I was allers used to have something to give to 
de poor, and to de missionary too, and to de minister, 
but den I'se no poorer dan my good Lord was when 
He was here in de world, and I'se nebber suffer half so 
much yet as He suffer for me on de cross. I'se very, 
very happy when I tink of dese things." 

" But, Nancy, you are alone here." 

" Yes, massa, I'se all alone, dat's true; but den Jesus 
is here too, all de time. I am nebber alone, and He's 
good company." 

" But, Nancy, how do you feel when you think about 
■death ? What if you should die here all alone some 
night ?" 

"Oh, massa judge, I 'spect to, I 'spect nothin' else 
but jes to go off alone here some night, as you say, or 
some day. But it's all one, night or day, to poor 
JSancy; and den, massa, I 'spect I'll not go all alone, 
arter all ; for Jesus says in the blessed book, ' I'll come 
and take you to myself, dat where I am, dare you 
may be also ; an' I believe Him. I'se not afraid to die 
-alone." 



438 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

" But, Nancy, sometimes when I think about dying 
I am filled with trouble. I think how bad I am, what 
a sinner, and how unfit for heaven; and I think, now 
what if I should die suddenly, just as I am, what would 
become of me ? Are you not afraid to die and go into 
the presence of a holy God ?" 

"Oh no massa, 'deed I'se not." 

" Why not, Fancy ?" 

" Oh massa, I was 'fraid, berry much. When I was 
first injer, I see I must die, and I thought how can such 
a sinner as I is, ebber go into such a holy place as de 
New Jerusalem is ? An' I was miserable. Oh, I was 
miserable 'deed, sure ! But den by and by, arter a 
while, I jes thought I must trust myself to de blessed 
Jesus to make me ready for de kingdom. An' so I 
foun' res' for my poor soul in Jesus, an' since dat time 
I feel somehow all better. I know now He will make 
me all ready, pure and white for de New Jerusalem 
above. An now I love to think about de time when I 
shall come to 'pear before the Father's throne wid Him 
in glory, all starry, spangly white." 

For a moment the judge sat in silence, admiring the- 
power of Grace. " Well, Nancy, one thing more let 
me ask you : Do you never complain?" 

" Complain ! Oh now massa judge, complain do you 
say, massa? Why massa, who should such a one as I 
complain of? The good Lord, He knows what's bes 
for poor Nancy. His will be done !" 

The judge bowed his head in silence a moment and 
then rose and bade Nancy good-bye, without the word 
of consolation and prayer which he fully purposed to 
offer when he went into the cabin. All the way home 
he kept saying to himself, " Well, I never yet said, 
' His will be done' in that way. I never felt it. Alone, 
poor, helpless, bed-rid, dependent, miserable in body, 
and yet happy as an angel. Ah there is a power there 
I never felt." 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 439 

The impression thus made continued, until after a 
season of much mental conflict and earnest waiting 
upon God, he was enabled in sincerity to feel, " Thy 
will be done," and a trustful peace succeeded to the 
season of agitation and distress through which he had 
passed. 

" Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind 
is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." This 
" peace of God," which passeth all understanding, 
is fully known by those only who submit to the sancti- 
fying operations of Divine grace, and through obedi- 
ence to it are brought into fellowship with the Father 
and the Son. 

A good illustration of the necessity of being willing 
to part with everything, in order that we may gain the 
salvation of the soul, the pearl of great price, is found 
in the case of a young man in a boat who was hunting 
near New Haven and broke one of his oars : — 

A sudden rain-storm was coming up, but he was so 
desirous of securing a duck he had shot, he neglected 
to go ashore while he could. The squall drove him far 
from land, and with but one oar he soon found himself 
helplessly drifting out to sea. Finally, seeing no hope 
of safety by his own exertions, he took his handkerchief 
and tied it to the oar, and held it up to attract attention 
of others, should any vessel come in sight. After weary 
waiting, a sloop was at length seen making for him, 
and as soon as it was within hailing distance of the boat 
the captain bade the man jump aboard the instant the 
sloop came alongside, as it was sailing under a strong 
wind. The order was obeyed. He jumped and caught 
the taffrail with both hands. " Saved !" you say. So, 
for no sooner had he seized hold than he was pulled 
back, fell into the water, and was seen no more, as the 
sloop dashed onward in its course. He had tied the 



440 FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMARKS. 

boat's painter about his loins, and so the height of the 
boat dragged him down into a watery grave. In try- 
ing to save his game he was driven out to sea; and 
then, in trying to save his boat, he lost his life. Had 
he divested himself of every weight and leaped unfet- 
tered into that ark of safety, which for an instant was 
within his reach, he would have been saved. 0, the 
folly of those who are anxious to save trifles and reck- 
less in risking all — who hesitate to lay aside every 
weight, and the sin that so easily besets them, and thus 
forever perish. Did they say as Toplady, " Nothing in 
my hands I bring;" did they drop what was dear to 
them as a right hand or eye for the sake of eternal life, 
they would gain heaven. 

" He that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be 
Christ's disciple. If there be love of money, or fear 
of hardship, or dread of ridicule, or choice of pleasure 
— whatever it is that fetters and loads down the soul, 
there is no hope of heaven. The gate is narrow. There 
is no room for the bulky appendages with which the 
self-righteous, or worldly, or covetous burden them- 
selves. To dream of thus entering heaven is a fatal 
mistake. But by giving up all we gain all. By dropping 
the toys of time we receive the wealth of eternity." 

The blessings of apparent adversity are prettily illus- 
trated in the anecdote told of a distinguished botanist, 
who was exiled from his native land, and obtained em- 
ployment as an under-garden er in the service of a 
nobleman. While he was in this situation, his master 
received a valuable plant, the nature and habits of 
which were unknown to him. It was given to the 
gardener to be taken care of, and he, fancying it to be 
a tropical production, put it into the hot-house (for it 
was winter), and dealt with it as with others under the 
oHass. But it besran to decay, when the strange under- 
gardener asked permission to examine it. As soon as 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 441 

lie looked at it, he said — " This is an arctic plant, you 
are killing it by the tropical heat into which you have 
introduced it." So he took it outside and exposed it 
to the frost, and, to the dismay of the upper-gardener, 
heaped pieces of ice around the flower-pot; but the 
result vindicated his wisdom, for the plant began to 
recover, and was soon as strong as ever. 

It is so with Christian character. Ease is more dan- 
gerous to it than difficulty. There is a Divine power 
which can keep man spiritually alive in every situation 
in life, in which he is rightly placed ; but this requires 
peculiar watchfulness and devotedness, when one is 
surrounded with luxury, and shielded from opposition 
and tribulation. Hence those afflictive dispensations 
which the all-wise Governor of the universe permits 
his children to experience, should be regarded as tokens 
of his love, by which He designs to strengthen their 
characters, and to lead them to draw closer to and de- 
pend more fully upon Him. 

The effect upon man of different outward surround- 
ings, has been illustrated by the comparison of a tree 
growing in the midst of a forest, surrounded on all sides 
by trees that shelter and shade it. It runs up tall and 
slender ; and if its protectors are cut away, it is easily 
overturned by the storms. But the same kind of a tree, 
growing in the open field, where it is continually 
beaten upon by the tempests, grows up strong and 
well-rooted, so that it is able to endure much violence. 
In like manner, the man who is compelled to rely 
upon his own resources, acquires an independence of 
character, which he could not otherwise have ob- 
tained. 

Several years since, being at a small seaport in Mas- 
sachusetts, one of those easterly storms came up which 
so often prove fatal to vessels and their crews on that 
coast. The wind had blown strongly from the north- 



442 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

east for a day or two ; and as it increased to a gale, 
fears were entertained for the safety of a fine ship, 
which had been from the beginning of the north-easter, 
lying off and on the bay, apparently without any de- 
cision on the part of her officers which way to direct 
her course, and who had once or twice refused the offer 
of a pilot. 

On the following morning, an old weather-beaten tar 
was seen standing on the highest point of land in the 
place, looking anxiously at her through his glass, while 
others listened with trembling to his remarks upon the 
apparently doomed vessel. She was completely land- 
locked, as sailors say (that is, surrounded by land), ex- 
cept in the direction from which the wind blew ; and 
as between her and the shore extensive sandbanks 
intervened, her destruction was inevitable, unless she 
could make the harbor. 

At length a number of resolute young men, perfectly 
acquainted with the intricate navigation of the bay and 
harbor, put off in a small schooner, determined, if pos- 
sible, to bring her into port. A tremendous sea was 
rolling in the bay, and as the little vessel made her way 
out of the harbor, the scene became one of deep and 
exciting interest. Xow lifted up on the top of a dark 
wave, she seemed trembling on the verge of destruc- 
tion ; then plunging down into the trough of the sea 
was lost from our view, not even the top of her mast 
being visible, though probably twenty feet high ; and 
a "landsman" would exclaim, "She has gone to the 
bottom." Thus alternately rising and sinking, she at 
length reached the ship, hailed and tendered a pilot, 
which was again refused. Irritated by the refusal the 
" skipper " put his little vessel about and stood in for 
the harbor, when a gun was discharged from the labor- 
ing vessel, and the signal for a pilot run up to her mast 
head. 

The little schooner was laid to the wind, and as the 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 443 

ship came up she was directed to follow in her wake, 
until within range of the light-house, where a smoother 
sea would allow them to run alongside and put a pilot 
on board. In a few minutes the vessels came side to 
side, passing each other, and the pilot springing into 
the ship's chains was soon on her deck. 

The mysterious movements of the vessel were now 
explained. She had taken a pilot some clays before 
who was ignorant of his duty, and the crew, being 
aware of his incompetency, were almost in a state of 
mutiny. When first hailed from the schooner, the 
captain was below, but hearing the first pilot return 
the hail, went on deck, and deposing him from his 
trust, at once reversed his answer by firing the sig- 
nal gun. 

The new pilot having made the necessary inquiries 
about the working of the ship, requested the captain 
and his trustiest man to take the wheel, gave orders 
for the stations of his men, and charged the captain for 
the peril of his ship not to change her course a hand 
breadth but by his order. His port and bearing were 
those of a man confident in his knowledge and ability 
to save the vessel ; and as the sailors winked to each 
other and said, " That is none of your land sharks," it 
was evident that confidence and hope were reviving 
within them. 

All the canvas she could bear was now spread to the 
gale, and while the silence of death reigned on board, 
she took her way on the larboard directly towards the 
foaming breakers. On, on she flew, until it seemed 
from her proximity to those breakers, that her destruc- 
tion was inevitable. " Shall I put her about ?" shouted 
the captain, in tones indicative of intense excitement. 
" Stead}'," was the calm reply of the pilot, when the 
sea was boiling like a cauldron just under her bows. 
In another moment the same calm, bold voice pro- 
nounced the order, "About ship," and she turned her 



444 FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMARKS. 

head from the breakers, and stood boldly off upon the 
other tack. 

" He knows what he is about," said the captain to 
the man by his side. " He is an old salt, a sailor every 
yarn of him," was the language of the seamen one to 
another : and the trembling passengers began to hope. 
The ship now n eared two sunken rocks, the place of 
which was marked by the angry breaking and boiling 
of the sea ; and she seemed driving directly on them. 
" Full and steady," was pronounced in tones of calm 
authority by the pilot, who stood with folded arms in 
the ship's bows, the water drenching him completely 
as it broke over her bulwarks. She passed safely be- 
tween them; the order of turning on the other tack 
was given, and again she stood toward the fearful 
breakers. Nearer and nearer she came, and still no 
order from the pilot, who stood like a statue, calm and 
unmoved, amid the raging elements. The vessel 
labored hard, as the broken foaming waves roared 
around her, and seemed just on the verge of striking, 
when "About ship," in a voice like thunder, arose 
above the fury of the tempest. Again she stood upon 
the starboard tack, and soon entered the harbor and cast 
anchor in safety. 

One hour later she could not have been rescued, for 
by the time she had reached the anchorage no vessel 
could have carried a rag of sail in the open bay. Ship 
and crew, and passengers, more than one hundred In 
all, must have perished. When the order was given 
to " back their fore topsail, and let go the anchor," a 
scene ensued which might baffle the description of the 
painter or poet. The captain sprung from the wheel 
and caught the pilot in his arms, the sailors and pas- 
sengers crowded around. Some hung around his neck, 
others embraced his knees and tears streamed down 
the faces of old seamen who had weathered many a 
storm and braved untold dangers. All were pressing 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 445 

forward if only to grasp the hand of their deliverer in- 
token of gratitude. And now for the application. 

The ship's crew had faith in their pilot. — Their faith 
amounted to confidence. They gave up the ship to his 
direction. It was obedient confidence. They did not 
say, " He will save us," and sit down indolently and 
neglect his orders. The helm was turned, the sails 
were trimmed and every rope loosened or tightened as 
he directed. Nor did they disobey, though sometimes 
apparently rushing into the jaws of destruction. 



CHAPTER X. 

■MISCELLANEO US. 



The bridge — Good for evil — Too rich — Faith and works — Confes- 
sion and restitution — A cure for moths — Mary's house — Reproof 
— Wearing earrings — Silent reproof — The swearer's prayer — 
Wedgewood's rebuke — Inconsistency — Earnestness — Courage — 
G. Whitehead— Elisha Tyson— Thomas Shipley— Mingo— "Rain 
from the earth." 

That ancient method of giving instruction by fables 
or allegories, is not very often resorted to at the present 
time. But many of our older readers can remember 
the pleasure and profit which they derived from the 
perusal of those which Lindley Murray placed in his 
series of Readers, and the strong hold which some of 
these took of their memory and imagination ; so that 
they have often been brought to mind since, with in- 
struction. The following piece of more modern date, 
from the pen of Jean Ingelow, may prove instructive. 



446 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

There was once a beautiful city which stood upon 
the slope of a hill ; it could be seen from a great dis- 
tance and the fame of it was such that many people 
came from far to admire it, as well as to talk with its 
inhabitants, who were said to be a very wise race of 
men, skilful in all the arts of life, and constantly making 
new and great inventions. 

One evening, a long time ago, a stranger came to 
this city. He had travelled a long way and seemed 
weary, but he had heard so much of the city and its 
wise inhabitants that he allowed himself little time to 
rest before he set out to inspect the streets, and admire 
the large squares with their long lines of overshadowing 
trees, the fountains springing up and tumbling into 
their deep marble basins, the tall graceful spires, and 
the clear windows shadowed with sweeping curtains 
and filled with flowering plants. 

The more he saw the more he was delighted. The 
city was as beautiful as he had expected, and the people 
were wise and kind. ' Some of them were rich, and 
had houses like palaces; others were poor; but the 
rich were very good, and had built schools for their 
children, where they taught them the peculiar learning 
of the place with various arts and trades, by which the 
boys soon learned to get their own living, and the girls 
to practice needlework and other useful arts, besides 
which they had them instructed in the laws which had 
been made by the King; and so well were the children 
taught on this point that many of them knew as much 
about the King and his laws as their richer neighbors, 
who had founded these schools. 

The stranger thought this such a pleasant city, that 
he wished to remain in it for awhile, that he might 
observe the manners of the people and how they em- 
ployed themselves. So he went about from day to day, 
and observed how industrious the men were — how they 
built houses and wove cloth, dug wells and made bread 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 447 

— and how the women spun and knitted, and took care 
of their children, and of their houses. He was pleased, 
too, to see the children going so regularly to their 
schools ; and when their task was over he often fol- 
lowed them into the meadows to see how happy they 
were, gathering flowers and playing about in the long 
grass. 

" This town of yours seems a very good place to 
live in ? " he said one day to a man who was weaving 
a basket. 

" So it would be," said the man, looking up thought- 
fully, " if it were not for the river." 

"What river?" asked the stranger. "I have not 
seen or heard of any river." 

" Why, no," replied the man, " I dare say not, for it 
runs a little way out of the city, and we have planted 
some trees in that direction, that we may noc see it ; 
you will not often hear it mentioned, for in fact we do 
not consider it good breeding to allude to it." 

"But what harm does it do to the town?" asked 
the stranger. 

" I don't wish to say much about it," replied the 
man, " it is a very painful subject ; but the truth is, our 
King, whom you may have heard of, lives a long way 
off on the other side of the river, and sooner or later 
he sends for all here to cross over. We shall certainly 
all have to cross before long. The King sends messen- 
gers for us; there is scarcely a day in which some one 
is. not sent for." 

" But are they obliged to go ?" asked the stranger. 

"Oh, yes, they must go," replied the man, " for the 
King is very powerful. If he were to send for me to- 
day I could not even wait to finish my work. Some- 
times he sends for our wives or our children, and the 
messenger never waits till we are ready." 

" What sort of a country is it on the other side of 



448 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

the river ? " asked the stranger. " Is it as pleasant as 
it is here ?" 

" The river is so wide that we cannot see across it 
distinctly,"' said the man ; " and when onr friends and 
relations are once gone over they never come back to 
tell us how it fares with them there. But yet every 
one here is agreed, and the highest evidence confirms 
it, that the country across the river is a far better one 
than this. The air is so pure that it heals all their 
diseases ; besides there is no such thing as poverty or 
trouble, and the King is very good to them and so is 
his Son." 

"Well, then," said the stranger, u if the country be 
so fine, I do not see why you should think it such a 
misfortune to have to go to it, particularly as you are 
to see there all your parents, and children, and friends 
who have gone there before you. Why are you so 
much afraid to cross the river?" 

The man did not answer at first ; he seemed to be 
thinking of his work : at length he looked up and 
said : — " When any of our friends are sent for we 
always say they are gone over into that beautiful 
country; but to tell you the truth, this river is so 
extremely deep and wide, and it rushes along so 
swiftly—"' 

"Well," said the stranger. 

" I don't mind telling you." replied the man, " as you 
do not know much of these parts, that I think it very 
doubtful whether many of those who have to plunge in 
can get to the other side at all. I am afraid the strong 
tide carries some of them down till they are lost. Be- 
sides, sometimes they are sent for in the dark, and, as 
I said before, the messenger never waits till we are 
ready." 

"Indeed!" said the stranger, "in that case, so far 
from envying these people, I wonder to see them look- 
ing so happy and so unconcerned. I should have 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 449 

thought they would have been so anxious lest the mes- 
senger should come. Pray cannot your friends help 
you over ?" The man shook his head. " We have 
made a great many rafts at different times," he said, in 
a doubtful tone, " but they all went whirling down the 
stream and were wrecked. We began a bridge, too, 
and it cost us incredible labor, but we could never 
make it reach beyond the middle of the river." 

" Then," said the stranger, " are there no ships to 
convey you over ; must you needs plunge alone and 
unhelped into those dark, deep waters ? " 

" I am not learned in these matters," said the man, 
evidently uneasy, " and I do not pretend to be wiser 
than my betters, who generally think this a disagree- 
able subject, and one that we should not trouble our- 
selves about more than we can help." 

"But if you must all go?" said the stranger. 

" I am a working man," replied the basket-maker, 
interrupting him, "and I really have no time to talk to 
you any further. If you want to know anything more 
about this, you had better go and speak to that man 
whom you see talking to that group of children. It is 
his business to teach people how to get over the river, 
but I have not time to attend to him. I dare say, 
when my time comes, I shall get across as well as 
my neighbors." 

So the stranger went up to this man, who had been 
pointed out to him, and inquired whether he could tell 
him anything about the dreadful river. 

"Certainly," said the man, " I shall be very glad to 
tell you any thing you wish to know. It is my duty, 
I am one of the ambassadors of the King's Son. If 
you will come with me a little way out of the town, I 
will show you the river." 

So he led him over several green hills, and down into 
a deep valley, till they came to the edge of a whirling 
hurrying torrent, deep and swollen. It moved along 
"29 



450 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

with such a thundering noise that the stranger shud- 
dered and said : 

" I hope, sir, it is not true that all the people in the 
city are obliged to cross this river ?" 

" Yes, it is quite true," answered the man. 

" Poor people !" said the stranger, " none of them 
can strive against such a stream as this ; no doubt they 
are all borne away by the force of the torrent. Do you 
think any man could swim over here in safety?" 

"No," said the man, looking very sorrowful, "it is 
quite impossible, and we should all be lost if it were 
not for the bridge." 

" The bridge" exclaimed the stranger very much sur- 
prised. " No one told me there was a bridge." 

"0, yes," replied the man, " there is a bridge a short 
distance higher up; it was built by the King's Son, 
and by means of it we can pass in perfect safety." 

"What! may you all pass?" asked the stranger 
eagerly. 

" Yes, all. The bridge is perfectly free, and is the 
only way of reaching the country beyond. All who try 
to swim over or cross in any other way will certainly 
be lost forever." 

" Sir," said the stranger, "if this be the case, I must 
hasten back to the city and tell the people that no more 
of them be lost in these swelling waters." 

" You may certainly do so if you please," replied the 
man, " but know first that all the people have been 
duly informed of the bridge. My brethren and myself 
spend nearly all our time in telling them of the good- 
ness of the King's Son, and how neither he nor his 
Father is willing that any should perish. But their 
pride is very great." 

" What ! so great that they would rather die than use 
the bridge?" asked the stranger in astonishment. 

" Some of them have built up works of their own," 
replied the man, " which they think are strong enough 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 451 

to bear them over into the King's country ; others say 
they do not believe there is. but one way of getting 
over ; and some men throw themselves headlong into 
the flood, saying they do not believe there is such a 
provision, or at least that it was not meant for them. 
But, as I told you before, it is perfectly free, and the 
voice of the King's Son may sometimes be heard call- 
ing to the people over the flood, and inviting them to 
come to him; for, strange as it may seem to you, he 
loves them, though they are so backward to believe 
that he means them well." 

"What!" interrupted the stranger, "does not the 
King's Son repent of what he has done, is he not sorry 
that he built a bridge for such a thankless race ?" 

"No," said the man, "though they slight his offers 
of safety he still sends ambassadors to call them to him, 
even at the very brink of the river. Nay, he often 
himself visits them, and by night, when all is still, he 
comes to their doors and knocks ; if any man will open 
to him he will enter and sup with him. He will tell 
him how he has loved our nation, and what he has 
done for our sake ; for indeed it cost him very dear 
to build that bridge, but now it stands stronger than 
a rock." 

Now when the stranger heard this he wondered 
greatly at the ingratitude and foolishness of these peo- 
ple ; and, as he turned away, I went up to the ambas- 
sador and ventured to ask him the name of that city 
and the country it stood in. 

But it startled me beyond measure when he told me 
the name of that country ; for it had the same name 
as my own! 

The Memoir of John Roberts contains a pleasant 
illustration of the exercise of that Christian virtue which 
the precepts of our Saviour enjoin, of returning good 
for evil. He lived in England in the latter part of the 



452 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

seventeenth century ; and like many other good men 
of that time experienced the truth of the Apostle's 
declaration, "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus 
shall suffer persecution," having to endure imprison- 
ment and loss of property for assembling with his 
friends to worship the Lord. 

Among those who were active in persecuting their 
neighbors, was a justice named James George. It so- 
occurred that a murrain broke out among his cattle, 
and. some of them died. His steward told him that he 
must send for John Roberts to doctor them, or that he 
would lose them all. " No," said the justice, " don't 
send for him now, because I have warrants out against 
him and his sons [for being at a religious meeting], 
send for anybody else now." So the steward sent for 
another, who did what he could for them, but to very 
little purpose, for the cattle continued to sicken and die 
as before. The steward then told him, " Please, wor- 
ship, if you don't send for John, I believe you will lose 
all your cattle. I don't find as this man does them any 
good. But if you please to send for John, I don't ques- 
tion but he could be of service to them." " Send for 
him, then," said the justice, " but don't bring him in as 
you used to do. When he has done what he can, pay 
him and dismiss him." So John was sent for, and 
went, (having learned the great Christian lesson, to 
return good for evil), and did his best for them. When 
he had done, as he was wiping his hands in the entry, 
the justice undesignedly came by him ; and seeing he 
could not avoid his notice, said, " So, John, you have 
done something for my cattle, I suppose." "Yes," 
replied John, " and I hope it will do them good." 
" Well," said the justice to the steward, " pay John." 

J. Robert*. No, I'll have none of thy money. 

Justice. None of my money. Why so ? 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 453 

J.Roberts. To what purpose is it to take a little of 
thy money by retail, and thou come and take my goods 
by wholesale. 

Justice. Don't you think your coming to drink and 
bleed my cattle will deter me from executing the king's 
laws. 

J. Roberts. It's time enough for thee to deny me a 
favor when I ask it of thee. I seek no favor at thy 
hands. But when thou hast done me all the displeasure 
thou art permitted to do, I will, notwithstanding, serve 
thee or thine to the utmost of my power. 

John Roberts' son, who wrote out this narrative, says 
that his father presented the justice with a piece against 
persecution, written by Thomas Ellwood, " which, to- 
gether with my father's readiness to serve him, so 
wrought on him, that I don't remember any of his corn 
being taken from him at that time." 

A gentleman died some time since, at his residence in 
■one of the up-town fashionable streets, in New York, leav- 
ing eleven million dollars. He was a member of the Pres- 
byterian Church, in excellent standing ; a good husband 
.and father, and a thriving citizen. On his death-bed, 
lingering long, he suffered great agony of mind, and 
gave continual expression of remorse at what his con- 
science told him had been an ill-spent life ! " Oh," he 
exclaimed, as his weeping friends and relations gathered 
.about his bed, " Oh ! if I could only live my years over 
again. Oh ! if I could only be spared for a few years, 
I would give all the wealth I have amassed in a life- 
time. It is a life devoted to money-getting that I re- 
gret. It is this which weighs me down, and makes me 
despair of the life hereafter." "You have never re- 
proved my avaricious spirit," he said to the minister. 
You call it a wise economy and forethought, but my 
riches have been only a snare for my soul ! I would 
give all I possess to have a hope for my poor soul !" In 



454 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

this state of mind, refusing to be consoled, this poor 
rich man bewailed a life devoted to the mere acquisi- 
tion of riches. Many came away from his bedside im- 
pressed with the uselessness of such an existence as the 
wealthy man had spent, adding house to house, dollar 
to dollar, until he became a millionaire. All knew 
him to be a professing Christian, and a good man, as 
the world goes, but the terror and remorse of his death- 
bed administered a lesson not to be dismissed from 
memory. He would have given all his wealth for a 
single hope of heaven. 

The connection between faith and works is illus- 
trated in the description given by Thomas Jones, an 
old colored preacher, of his escape from slavery. He 
says : " When I found myself out on the ocean, I prayed 
to God to help me, and He did help me. I found some 
boards and got on to them. Well, what did I do then ? 
Did I stop praying, and think because I had got a few 
boards I could go alone now, and I didn't need the 
Lord's help any more ? No ! I kept on praying, and 
held on to the boards. Well, what did I do then ? Sit 
still, and expect the Lord to carry me safely through, 
and think that I had nothing to do? No ! I took a 
stick for a paddle, and went to paddling and praying.. 
I did not sit still, like those who have a name to live* 
and are dead ; but I just went to paddling, and I did 
not forget to pray ; and by paddling and praying I got 
through. So God expects us to pray and also to pad- 
dle, and not wait for Him to do the work that He has 
set us to do." 

There was a real evidence of conversion in the an- 
swer of the little maid servant, who gave as a reason 
for believing that the change in her was a real one, 
" Now I sweep under the mats." She had evidently 
learned that her work must be performed faithfully, as 
in the eye of her Heavenly Master, and not slighted, as 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 455 

is often done by those who merely desire to escape the 
censure of their earthly masters. To " sweep under the 
mats," has a special meaning to the present writer, 
because it brings to mind the days when he was a 
school-boy, and at times it Avas his duty to sweep the 
school-room ; and he well remembers the temptation 
to slight the work, and leave untouched the floor under 
the long benches, where the dust would not attract 
the eye of any but a close observer. 

Jerry McAuley, of New York, who had been a no- 
toriously bad man, but afterwards became a preacher 
of righteousness, on one occasion related the following 
incident from his own experience. He said : — 

I remember a short time after I was converted, I was 
sitting in a mission down town, reading, when in came 
a man who was captain of a vessel. He looked around 
until he saw me, and said to the man who kept the 
place : 

" What are you doing with that rascal in here ? 

The captain was told I was a convert and lived a 
Christian life. 

" He a Christian ?" said the captain. " Yes, a pretty 
Christian he is. He stole a hundred dollars' worth of 
sugar from me once, and if he got his deserts he would 
be in the penitentiary." Then walking up to me he 
said, " if you are converted, and pretend to be an hon- 
est man, pay me for that sugar you stole from me." 

My friends, that was a trying time for me, and the 
devil tempted me to deny the whole thing, and face 
him down in it ; but I lifted my heart to Gocl, and He 
helped me. I went up to him, and said : — 

" Captain, I did steal that sugar from you, and if you 
will walk to my home with me I will pay you for it." 

I had got steady work, and had saved a hundred dol- 
lars, and had put it away, the first hundred dollars I 



456 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

had ever saved by honest work. I hated to part with 
it, we needed things so bad ; but the Lord helped me, 
and I said, " Come on ; walk right home with me, and 
I will pa} 7 you for that sugar." 

" Yes," said he, " you look like paying a hundred 
dollars. I ain't fooled quite so easy as that." 

I took him by the arm and made him walk right 
along, and the Lord helped me every step I took. He 
was silent for a while, when he said, in a kinder tone : — 

" rTow, Jerry, you don't mean to pay me that money ; 
you can't spare it." 

I said, " Yes, I can. The Lord will help me to spare 
it." 

"Jerry," said he, " I believe you have got religion. 
Now hold on ; I ain't going to take that money. It is 
diamond cut diamond. I stole that sugar, and you stole 
it from me. Suppose we call it even ?" 

Well, he would go no farther, and I saved my hun- 
dred dollars. If I had tried to shirk the matter and 
run away from that man, I would have lost my own 
enjoyment, and lost the chance of showing the captain 
how the grace of God in the heart makes a man honest. 
Oh, my friends, if you only get honest with God and 
honest with yourself, you can defy the world. 

An anecdote is told of a man who was a parishioner 
of Adam Clarke, the well-known Methodist minister 
and commentator. He came under deep conviction for 
sin, but could not feel that settlement of mind and 
peace which he longed for. Shortly after he was con- 
fined to his chamber by sickness, and sent for A. Clarke 
to visit him. These visits were repeated from time to 
time ; but although there was much apparent sincerity 
in the distressed invalid, there was not a sense of for- 
giveness and acceptance. Finally, as his end seemed 
to be drawing near, Adam said to him, he thought 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 457 

there must be some cause for this withholding of Di- 
vine favor ; that he must have left something undone 
which it was his duty to do. 

The man looked intently on the minister, raised 
himself up in bed, and with an appearance indicating 
that he was resolved to make a full disclosure, pro- 
ceeded to give an account of a strange transaction in 
which he had originally no guilty complicity, but with 
which he became so connected that he was drawn into 
a wrong course, and very serious evil, which he could 
have averted, resulted from it to an individual who had 
since died without any reparation or confession being 
made to him. 

The conscience-stricken man, now making his con- 
fession to A. Clarke, told him that he had tried long 
to stifle conscience with the business and diversions of 
the world, but in vain. At length, he heard the min- 
ister preach upon a theme that applied directly to him- 
self; and then it was that the voice of God sounded in 
his soul, and reasoned with him of " righteousness and 
judgment to come." He was in deep distress ; he ag- 
onized for mercy in the name of Christ; but his prayer 
was not answered. 

The injured man was dead, but his widow and father- 
less children still lived. The minister told the dying 
penitent that God claimed of him, not only repentance, 
but confession and restitution. He readily assented, 
and full restitution was made. Very soon the troubled 
mind of the dying man was calmed. God gave him 
that "peace which passeth all understanding;" and in 
the assurance of mercy through the merits of the Sa- 
viour he entered into eternal rest. 

The editor of The Earnest Christian mentions that 
soon after the close of the civil war he was at a large 
union meeting in New York cnry, where he spoke for 



458 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

a few minutes on the importance of " bringing forth 
" fruits meet for repentance ;" and referred to the effect 
produced by the preaching of Paul at Ephesus, "Many 
that believed came and confessed, and showed their 
deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts 
brought their books together, and burned them before 
all men." 

At the close of the meeting, a person who was pres- 
ent desired a private interview. He said that he had 
professed to be converted the previous winter, but he 
had defrauded the government, as nearly as he could 
make out, of about thirty thousand dollars. The 
preacher told him, there was no use in his professing 
to be converted unless he was willing to make restitu- 
tion. This he did not seem prepared to do, but went 
away sorrowful, like the young man who asked our 
Saviour what he should do to inherit eternal life, but 
shrank from the unreserved surrender of all that he 
had. He kept his profession of being a Christian, and 
became a popular worker in a popular religious revival, 
but afterwards was sent to State prison for a crime com- 
mitted while engaged in his evangelistic labors. 

Such a result is not to be wondered at. For it is only 
the preserving power of the grace of God that can keep 
any of us from yielding to temptation ; and when a man 
habitually resists the teachings and despises the reproofs 
of that grace, the time will come in which he will verify 
in his own experience the truth of the declaration, 
" He that being often reproved, hardeneth himself, 
shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." 

But what a"blessed truth it is, " that he that confesseth 
and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy." May we not 
believe that this was the experience of the poor woman 
Avhose case is related by the late John B. Gough. Hugh 
Miller, then living at Edinburgh, received a letter from 
a towns-woman, who for years had been a dissolute 
character, but was then lying on the bed of death in a 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 459 

wretched den in that city. He called upon her on a 
Seventh-day evening, and gave her a half-crown, the 
only money he had with him, and promised to see her 
again the next morning. When he came back she was 
dead. At the funeral he saw a woman evidently affected, 
and asked her if the deceased was a relative. 

" Oh, no !" she said ; "no relation, poor thing. When 
she was a gay, flaunting girl, with her ribbons and her 
furbelows and her flounces, she purchased things of 
me, and she owed me half-a-crown, and I could never 
get it; she would laugh at me when I asked her for it; 
and evidently seemed bent upon cheating me. Last 
Saturday night I was astonished to see that poor crea- 
ture come into my shop ; she only had one garment 
on her ; it was a drizzly night ; her cheeks were hol- 
low, her eyes sunk down deep in the sockets, her fin- 
gers like the claws of a bird; and she came tottering 
in and laid down the half-crown, and said, ' There is 
your money, ma'am ; it lies heavily on my conscience ; 
it is your due — I owe it to you, and I did not mean to 
cheat you; I must pay you before I die' — and went 
back to her wretched room to die." 

We were examining our wardrobe after the summer, 
and found, to our surprise and grief, many of our 
choicest articles of apparel sadly damaged by the moths. 
In the midst of our trouble, and the discussion as to 
the modes of protection against moths, which had been 
handed down by tradition in our family, Aunt Julia 
came in. 

"Aunt Julia, how do you keep your winter clothing 
from the moths ? " we both asked eagerly, as that 
good lady proceeded to lay aside her handsome shawl, 
which looked as fresh as ever after seven years' 
wear. 

" I used to suffer from moths as much as any one," 
replied Aunt Julia, taking her knitting from her little 



460 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

basket and sitting down, " but I found a recipe in an 
old-fashioned book which has relieved me of much 
solicitude on the subject. It was many years before I 
could be persuaded to try it. In my young days money 
was not quite so plentiful as now, but provisions were 
cheap, and a farmer's daughter began her married life 
better supplied with linen, blankets and bed quilts, 
than many a jewel-decked city belle. As I was an only 
daughter, and was not married too young, a noble pile 
of blankets, feather beds, bed quilts, &c, became my 
portion. For many years after we removed to the city 
I used to dread my summer work of airing beds, and 
packing very fine, home-made blankets, and quilts 
stuffed with the softest down. I tried snuff, tobacco, 
camphor, pepper and cedar chips, and yet, as we 
changed our place of residence several times, some 
colony of moths — old squatters among the beams of the 
garret, or in some unobserved scrap of woollen cloth — 
would encamp on my choicest possessions." 

" Why, Aunt Julia, I thought you had a cedar 
closet ?" 

" Yes, when we moved into our new house; but by 
that time my closet was too small for my increased 
wealth, and till I used this recipe I seldom passed a 
year without some moth holes ; but now I have not 
seen one in nine years." 

" What was it, Aunt? Have you the book? or can 
you repeat it from memory ? It is too late to save these 
things, but I will write it clown, and try it next spring." 
So saying, Anna took out her little recipe book and 
pencil, while Aunt Julia prepared to recall the moth 
preventive. 

The book was an old one, with the title obliterated, 
and the title-page torn out by some careless child ; but 
the directions were these : 

" Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, 
where moths and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS 461 

break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves 
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth 
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor 
steal." 

"Oh ! Aunt Julia, is that all? How does that help 
the matter?" 

" Wait, Anna, and hear my story out. One day as 
I was mourning over my choicest blankets, eaten by 
the moths, and airing my down bed-quilts and feather 
beds, which had been rendered obsolete by the intro- 
duction of spring mattresses — as I stood ready to cry 
with vexation to see my choicest articles eaten in the 
most conspicuous places, as you have experienced to- 
day — my eye rested on an old Bible, which lay on the 
top of a barrel of pamphlets in the garret. I opened 
it, and almost unconsciously read the recipe for avoid- 
ing moths which I have given you to-day. I then 
rcollected that they seldom troubled the clothing in 
frequent use, and that the articles which caused me 
such care were not needed twice a year. I then thought 
of Sophy Baker, with her large family and sick hus- 
band. They had been burned out the spring before, 
and were just entering upon a cold, long winter of 
poverty. 

I sat down, and writing her a note, sent two feather 
beds and four blankets, and an old-fashioned cover-lid, 
that very day ; and two more blankets I despatched to 
a poor old rheumatic neighbor, whose destitution had 
never occurred to me before. I then began to breathe 
freely; and before another week two more blankets 
were gone to comfort tired limbs and aching hearts. 
The cast-off coats, cloaks, and all pieces of carpeting 
which had long lain in my garret, were given to the 
deserving poor. A bag of woollen stockings and socks, 
which had been kept ibr cleaning brass, were sent to a 
charity institution, never again to become a temptation 
to the moths. I inquired particularly the next year, 



462 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

and found the beds and blankets were in such excellent 
preservation that I cheerfully laid out more of my sur- 
plus property ' in heaven,' and out of the way of moth 
and mould. My cedar closet and trunks hold all I wish 
to preserve, and, when they begin to run over, I com- 
mit more articles to the keeping of my widowed and 
fatherless acquaintances." 

" But, Aunt Julia, yours is a peculiar case. You 
had a home-made outfit of a rich farmer's daughter, 
and could not expect to make use of it ; besides, 
the Bible don't encourage wasting our goods extrava- 
gantly." 

" I do think the Bible leans to what is called the 
extravagant side. The rest of the chapter following 
the verse I have quoted gives little encouragement to 
much forethought, either in food or raiment, and in 
another place says, ' He that hath two coats, let him 
impart to him that hath none.' This rule leaves very 
little to pack away in a cedar closet. In my opinion, 
God's providence is far from encouraging extensive 
accumulation either of money or possessions, especi- 
ally among Christians. Fire and flood, drought, mil- 
dew and moth stand ready to rebuke that spirit of 
covetousness which the Lord abhorreth." 

" Surely, Aunt Julia, you wouldn't have me give 
away the new furs you gave me yourself last winter." 

" No, my child : but let us examine for a moment 
this moth-eaten pile. Here are three coats of your 
husband's which he never could wear again." 

" Those are for fishing, Aunt." 

" How often does he fish ?" 

" Once in four or five years, perhaps," said Anna. 

"Well, here is a bag of outgrown, shrunken socks 
and stockings, and these old dresses of Ada's, and 
those overcoats of the boys, that I heard you say were 
unfit for wear, even in the playground ; and besides, 
I think you remarked that the whole difficulty origi- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 463 

nated in an old carpet, which has been harboring 
moths many years, when it might have been ont of 
harm's way upon some poor widow's floor." 
" Well, aunt, I believe you are half right." 
" Try my rule, Anna ; not after your property is 
ruined, but when you find you can spare it, even at the 
risk of sending some of your treasure to heaven before 
you have obtained all you could from its use. Many 
an old garret have I known to be infested with moths, 
ruining many dollar's worth of valuable articles, when 
the whole evil might be traced to an old coat or carpet, 
selfishly or carelessly withheld from the poor. We 
are God's stewards, and our luxuries are not given us 
to feed a ' covetousness which is idolatry,' but are 
talents which may be increased ten times before the 
great day of final account. When people ask me 
how to prevent moths, I always long to say, ' Lay 
up your treasures in heaven,' because I have found 
from experience it is a sure and convenient way." 

" Well, aunt, I own I never thought much about it 
before as a matter of Christian duty. I will try, before 
another year, to confine my care to the articles I need, 
and shall hope for better success." 

The late Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, built a large and 
expensive house, which was furnished in the most 
elegant and costly style. One day when he was com- 
ing out of his house, before he had moved into it to 
live there, he met an elderly woman named Mary, 
going by, whom he knew very well, as she sometimes 
did house-cleaning and other work for him. Mary 
was a poor widow woman, who lived very plainly in 
two small rooms. She was a good, earnest Christian 
woman, whose religion made her contented and happy. 
The doctor had known her for quite a long time, and 
he respected her very much for her consistent humble 
piety. As he met her in front of his splendid dwelling, 



464 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

he thought he would like to show her all through it 
and see what effect the sight of a house so much larger 
and grander than she was accustomed to, would have 
•upon her. So he invited her to come in and see the 
new house. Mary went in with him. The doctor 
took her through the house and showed her all the 
beautiful things he had there. She looked at them 
very quietly, but did not seem to be as much impressed 
by what she saw, as the doctor thought she would be. 
When they got through, he said to her : 

" Well, Mary, what do you think of the house?" 
" It's very line, sir, indeed ; and I'm ever so much 
obliged to you for letting me see it ; but it doesn't be- 
gin to compare with the house that I'm going to move 
into before long. Let me read you a little about this 
house." 

Then she took a little Testament from her pocket, 
and turning to the last chapter of the Book of Revela- 
tions, she read some of those beautiful verses which 
describe the heavenly city that is to be the home of 
those that love Jesus ; and ended by saying, " I hope, 
sir, you may have much enjoyment in your new house, 
yet you can't expect to live here very long. But Jesus 
says of those who enter the house He is preparing for 
them, that, ' they shall go no more out.' I shall dwell 
in that heavenly home forever." 

The zealous and eccentric Rowland Hill relates, that 
once when he was returning to England from Ireland, 
he was much annoyed by the conduct of the captain 
and mate, who were both sadly given to the habit of 
swearing. First the captain swore at the mate — then 
the mate swore at the captain — then they both swore 
at the wind. Rowland says, " I called to them with a 
strong voice for fair play. ' Stop ! stop! said I, if you 
please, gentlemen, let us have fair play : it's my turn 
now.' 'At what is it your turn, pray?' said the cap- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 465 

tain. 'At swearing/ I replied. "Well, they waited 
and waited until their patience was exhausted, and 
then wanted me to make haste and take my turn. I 
told them, however, that I had a right to take my own 
time, and swear at my own convenience. To this the 
captain replied, with a laugh, * Perhaps you don't mean 
to take your turn V l Pardon me, captain,' I answered, 
' but I do, as soon as lean find the good of doing so.' I 
did not hear another oath on the voyage." 

Somewhat similar was the device of the captain of a 
ship, who, when about to take command of his vessel, 
assembled the crew on the quarter-deck and gave them 
his orders for the voyage. He told them there was one 
law he was determined to enforce, which was, that they 
must allow him to swear the first oath in that ship. 
" No man on board must swear an oath before I do." 
To this the men agreed, with the result of abolishing 
swearing on the vessel. 

To those who are addicted to the wicked custom of 
profane swearing, and desire to be free from the habit, 
the ancient- father, Chrysostom proposes a method, 
" which," he says, " if thou'lt take, will certainly prove 
successful. Everytime, whenever thou shalt find thy- 
self to have let slip an oath, punish thyself for it by 
missing the next meal. Such a course as this, though 
troublesome to the flesh, will be profitable to the spirit, 
and cause a quick amendment; for the tongue will 
need no other monitor to make it heed of swearing 
another time, if it has thus been punished with hunger 
and thirst for its former transgression, and knows it 
shall be so punished again if ever it commits the like 
crime hereafter." 

A very eifective rebuke was that given by the wife 
of a drunkard, who once found her husband in a filthy 
condition, with torn clothes, matted hair, bruised face, 
30 



466 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

asleep in the kitchen, having come home from a drunk- 
en revel. She sent for a photographer, and had a por- 
trait of him taken in all his wretched appearance, and 
placed it on the mantel beside another portrait taken 
at the time of his marriage, which showed him hand- 
some and well dressed, as he had been in other days. 
When he became sober he saw the two pictures, and 
was so awakened to a consciousness of his condition 
that he afterwards led a better life. 

An anecdote is told of an officer who was much ad- 
dicted to profane swearing, who was once visiting a 
deep mine in Cornwall. He was attended by a pious 
miner who was employed in the works. During his 
visit to the pit the officer uttered many profane and 
abominable expressions; and as he ascended in com- 
pany with the miner, finding it a long way, he said to 
him with an oath, "If it be so far down to your work, 
how far is it to the bottomless pit?" The honest 
miner promptly and seriously replied, " I do not know 
how far it is, sir; but I believe that if the rope by 
which we are drawn up should break, you would be there 
in a minute." The swearer was rebuked, and uttered 
no more oaths whilst in the company of the miner. 

There was ready wit manifested in the reproof given 
by — Haynes, a colored minister, to two reckless young 
men who had agreed to test his quickness of intellect. 
One of them said, " Father Haynes, have you heard 
the good news ?" " No," said he; " what is it ?" " It is 
great news, indeed," said the other, " and, if true, your 
business is done." " What is it ?" again inquired the 
preacher. " Why," said the first, " the devil is dead." 
In a moment, the old gentleman replied, lifting up 
both hands, and placing them on the heads of the young 
men, and in a tone of solemn concern, " Oh, poor fath- 
erless children ! what will become of vou ?" 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 467 

It was said of B. Jacobs, a clergyman of Cambridge- 
port, that he could administer reproof in a manner 
that was both forcible and gentle. Some young ladies 
at his house were one day talking about one of their 
female friends. As he entered the room, he heard the 
epithets " odd" and " singular" applied. He asked, 
and was told the name of the young lady in question ; 
and then said, very gravely, " Yes, she is an odd young 
lady ; she is a very odd young lady ; I consider her 
■extremely singular." He then added very impressively, 
" She was never heard to speak ill of an absent friend." 

The Messenger of Peace mentions that in a West- 
ern city two young men were sitting in their room 
in a private house ; and playing on the floor were two 
little girls, aged three and five years, who belonged to 
the mistress of the house. With the mother's permis- 
sion they were in the habit of carrying their dolls and 
other playthings into the rooms of the young men, 
and there, sitting in the middle of the floor, the little 
prattlers would spend many an hour. At this particu- 
lar time there were present in the room the two young 
men talking politics, and the two children on the floor 
playing with dolls. Now, one young man was a Demo- 
crat, the other a Republican. The result was an excit- 
ing controversy, and finally an oath from one by way 
of emphasis. Quick as a flash little five-year-old jumped 
to her feet, gathered her dress skirt full of toys, and 
said to her innocent baby sister, " Come, Clara, let us 
go quick ! I don't think mamma would like to have us 
hear such language." Before the young men could 
recover from their surprise, the children and toys had 
disappeared through the door. It was a rebuke that 
<mt deep. There was no more discussion of politics 
that evening, and the young Chicago lawyer who 
uttered that oath, states that he has not used a profane 
expression since the little girl's sermon. 



468 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

A woman in New Jersey received into her family an 
intelligent stranger from a heathen country, whom she 
endeavored to instruct in the truths of Christianity. 
She was herself awakened to a sense of inconsistency 
with her religious profession by a query which her 
visitor put to her. The account of the circumstance, 
which she forwarded to the Eoangelist, is as follows : — 

One day I sat conversing with him, he in very im- 
perfect English, and I with a dictionary in his native 
language beside me, to which I had frequent recourse. 
A proverb of his country attracted my attention, and I 
read aloud, " The heart of man is the same in all na- 
tions." A silence followed, which was broken by the 
rather personal remark : — 

" Mrs. W., why do you, why do American ladies 
wear ear-rings ?" 

You can imagine the startling effect it had upon me 
when I tell you that a few weeks before a friend, whom 
I considered rather ultra in her religious notions, hav- 
ing reproved me for wearing these, to her, unseemly 
ornaments, I replied, rather impatiently : — 

"I am a Christian, but I certainly shall not be a 
fanatic. When God tells me to put them aside I shall 
do so, and not until then." 

You can readily understand the effect of this ques- 
tion, and from such a source. Unwilling, however, to 
be convinced, glancing at an elegant chain attached to- 
il is watch, I replied : — 

" Probably for the same reason joxx wear that chain ; 
they are pretty, and I like all things that are pretty — 
flowers, pictures, &c." 

" JsTo, no," said he, " my chain is of use. I think 
you told me that God made man all good. I think He 
did not put holes in women's ears. Yes, ' the heart 
of man is the same in all nations.' My countrywomen 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS! 469 

Slacken their teeth, paint their faces. Christian women 
make holes in their ears." 

The truth came home with power to my soul. Quietly 
unfastening my rings, I laid them on the table. 

" Why do you do so ?" said he, evidently perplexed 
by the act. 

"0," said I, " God did make man good. He has told 
me to take these rings from my ears, and I obey Him." 

Quickly unfastening his chain from his watch, he 
laid it beside the rings ; and notwithstanding my efforts 
to induce him to resume it, he persisted in his deter- 
mination of not wearing it again. 

The New York Tribune describes a very effective re- 
proof, which it says was administered in an office in 
that city the week before the account was published : — 

Among those who occupy this office, consisting of a 
suite of fine rooms, two are high-toned Christian gen- 
tlemen. Some of them have held positions of emi- 
nence. To their office came a man who claimed a 
club acquaintance with one of them, and who, finding 
two or three of them together in the reception room, 
began to tell an offensive story, illustrating it as he 
went on by reference to a map hanging on the wall, 
and standing necessarily with his back to the auditors. 
"When he got through his story and turned to receive 
applause, no one was in the room but the type-writer 
boy, who had been busily at work all the time. The 
auditors had quietly taken themselves to their respec- 
tive rooms, and the visitor had nothing to do but take 
his hat, and retire. That is a good way to listen to, a 
vile story. 

That the very presence of a person, without a word 
being spoken, may sometimes as effectually reprove 
those who are doing wrong, as if the condemnation had 
been expressed in eloquent and fitting language, is 



470 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

shown by an anecdote which is told of Andrew Thom- 
son, a minister in Edinburgh. One Seventh-day night, 
in the house of one of the members of his congregation, 
a family of some note in the city, a midnight revel was 
going on. Thomson had been out late that night to 
visit a sick member of his flock. The narrative says : — 

On his return home, his eyes chanced to light on 
this house, whose windows were brilliant with the glare 
of festivity. The minister paused as he saw the shadows 
of the dancers on the window-blinds of the drawing- 
room; he could hear the sounds of the music and the 
voices of revelry. Taking his resolution, he stepped 
up to the doorway and rang the bell. Without speak- 
ing a word to the servant who opened the door, he 
went up stairs, entered the room, and stood up in the 
midst of the dancers- 

Had a spirit from the other world appeared, the 
party could not have been thrown into a state of greater 
embarrassment and confusion. The music ceased, the 
dancers stood still ; a silence as awful as death followed, 
while the bold intruder surveyed the company with a 
stern glance. Not a word did he utter ; not one tongue 
was moved to ask, " What doest thou ?" As the pene- 
trating glance of reproof fell in turn on each one of the 
confounded revellers, every countenance fell, and the 
bravest quailed. The piercing eye and solemn presence 
having accomplished the work of admonition, the min- 
ister retired amid the same unbroken silence. It was 
a bold stroke, but God blessed it, and it was the begin- 
ning of a work of the revival of genuine Christianity 
and reformation in many a family in the Scottish me- 
tropolis. 

It is related of Samuel W. Kilpin, that one day he 
passed a very profane man, and having failed to rebuke 
him, he awaited him in the morning at the same place. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 471 

"When he approached, Kilpin said, " Good morning, 
my friend, you are the person I've been waiting for." 

"Oh ! sir, you are mistaken," said the man. 

Kilpin replied, " I do not know you, but I saw you 
last night when you were going home from work, and 
I have been waiting some time to see you." 

"Oh ! sir, you are mistaken ; it could not be me, I 
never saw you before in my life, that I know of." 
• " Well, my friend," said Kilpin, " I heard you pray 
last night." 

" Sir, now I know that you are mistaken, I never 
prayed in all my life." 

"Oh!" said Kilpin, "if God had answered your 
prayer last night, you had not been here this morning ! 
I heard you pray that God would blast your eyes and 
damn your soul." 

The man turned pale, and then, trembling, said : — 

"Oh ! sir, do you call that prayer ? I did, I did." 

" Well, then, my friend, my errand this morning is 
to request you to pray as fervently for your salvation 
as you have done for damnation, and may God in 
mercy hear your prayer." 

The man from that time became an attendant on 
Kilpin's ministry, and it resulted in his early conversion 
to God. 

The owner of the famous Wedgewood potteries, in 
the beginning of this century, was not only a man of 
remarkable mechanical skill, but a most devout and 
reverent Christian. On one occasion, a man of disso- 
lute habits, and an avowed atheist, was going through 
the works, accompanied by Wedgewood, and by a 
young lad who was employed in them, the son of pious 
parents. Lord C — — sought early opportunity to 
speak contemptuously of religion. The boy at first 
looked amazed, then listened with interest, and at last 
burst into a loud, jeering laugh. 



472 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMAEKS. 

"Wedgewood made no comment, but soon found oc- 
casion to show his guest the process of making a fine 
vase : how with infinite care the delicate paste was 
moulded into a shape of rare beauty and fragile texture, 
how it was painted by skilful artists, and finally passed 
through the furnace, coining out perfect in form and 
pure in quality. The nobleman declared his delight, 
and stretched out his hand for it, but the potter threw 
it on the ground, shattering it into a thousand pieces, t 

"That was unpardonable carelessness!'' said Lord 

C , angrily. " I wished to take that cup home for 

my collection ! Nothing can restore it again." 

" No. You forget, my lord," said \Yedgewood, 
"that the soul of that lad who has just left us came 
pure into the world. That his parents, friends, all 
good influences, have been at work during his whole 
life to make him a vessel fit for the Master's use ; that 
you, with your touch, have undone all the work of years. 
No human hand can bind together again what you have 
broken." 

Lord C , who had never before received a rebuke 

from an inferior, stared at him in silence. Then, "You 
are an honest man," he said, frankly holding out his 
hand. " I never thought of the effect of my words." 

Among the duties that are called for at the hands 
of the Lord's servants is that of reproving evil. And 
when this is performed under a feeling of the restoring 
love of the Gospel, a blessing often attends it. King 
David says, " Let the righteous smite me ; it shall be 
a kindness; and let him reprove me; it shall be an 
excellent oil, which shall not break my head." There 
are many instances on record of effective reproof skil- 
fully administered. 

On one occasion John Wesley gave a skilfully 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 473 

worded and, as it proved, a very effective reproof to 
General Oglethorpe, the Governor of Georgia, with 
whom he crossed the ocean to America. 

Hearing an unusual noise in his cabin, he stepped in 
to inquire the cause. He found the general highly 
incensed, because his servant had drank up some 
Cyprus-wine, which the general had provided for his 
own use. " But," he added, " I will be revenged on 
him, I have ordered him to be tied hand and foot, and 
carried to the man-of-war which sails with us. The 
rascal should have taken care how he used me so, for 
I never forgive." " Then I hope," replied Wesley, 
"you never sin." This reference to our Saviour's 
declaration, "If ye forgive not men their trespasses, 
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses," pro- 
duced such an effect on the general, that he restored 
the custody of his keys to the offending servant, with 
an admonition to behave better for the future. 

Equally effective was the rebuke administered by 
John Locke, the distinguished author of a treatise on 
the human understanding, who had been introduced 
by Lord Shaftesbury to the Duke of Buckingham and 
Lord Halifax. 

The three noblemen, according to the foolish cus- 
toms of the times, sat down to a game of cards, instead 
of entering into rational and improving conversation. 
Locke, after looking on for a time, pulled out his 
pocket-book and began to write. One of the company 
observed the manner in which he was employed, and 
took the liberty of asking what he was writing. "My 
Lord," said Locke in reply, " I am endeavoring, as far 
as possible, to profit by my present situation; for, 
having waited with impatience for the honor of being 
in company with the greatest men of the age, I thought 



474 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMABKS. 

I could do nothing better than write down your con- 
versation ; and, indeed, I have set down the substance 
of what you have said this last hour or two." The three 
nobleman, sensible of the force of this well-timed ridi- 
cule, laid aside their cards, and entered into conversa- 
tion on subjects more worthy of rational beings. 

Isaac Walton relates the following instance of a re- 
buke given to one who was seeking in outward 
things that which could only be found in himself. 
He says : 

I knew a man that had health and riches, and several 
houses, all beautiful and well-furnished, and would 
often be troubling himself and family to remove from 
one of them to another. On being asked by a friend, 
why he removed so often from one house to another, 
he replied, " It was in order to find content in some of 
them." But his friend, knowing his temper, told him, 
if he would find content in any of his houses, he must 
leave himself behind, for content can never dwell but 
with a meek and quiet soul. 

An anecdote is told of a surgeon named Meikle, who 
was called to attend a man who had been stung on the 
face by a wasp or bee, and who was very impatient, 
swearing on account of the pain. The doctor told him 
it would soon be better, but he continued to swear, 
until his attendant determined to give him a reproof; 
so he said, " I see nothing the matter, only it might 
have been in a better place." " \Vhere might it have 
been ?" asked the sufferer, " Why, on the tip of your 
tongue !" 

Less personal and direct, yet plain enough to be 
understood, was the implied rebuke expressed by 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 475 

Howe, [probably John Howe, a Non-Conformist minis- 
ter, and chaplain of Oliver Cromwell] who dined on 
one occasion with a person that spoke largely in praise 
of King Charles I, introducing many oaths into the 
discourse. 

Howe remarked, that he had omitted one singular 
excellence in the character of that prince. The man 
eagerly inquired what that was, and received the reply, 
that " he was never heard to swear an oath in common 
conversation." The hint was received, and a promise 
given to break off the practice. 

At another time, when Howe was passing two per- 
sons who were talking with great earnestness, and im- 
precating curses on each other, he said to them, " I pray 
God save you both." They accepted the admonition 
and returned him thanks. 

The habit of profane swearing, to which some of 
these anecdotes refer ; and the horrid character of the 
oaths that are often uttered when the swearer becomes 
enraged, or sometimes even in a careless and thought- 
less mood ; are so bad and unreasonable, that they are 
enough to shock the guilty, when calmly brought to 
his notice. An anecdote illustrating this has been pre- 
served of William Wilson, a minister of Perth. 

He was walking along the streets of that town, and 
three soldiers happened to come near him, one of whom, 
on some frivolous account, expressed the wish that he 
might be damned ! W. Wilson immediately turned 
round, and said, " Poor man, and what if God should 
say Amen, and answer that prayer?" He passed on: 
the man seemed stupefied, and went home to his quar- 



476 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

ters in such a state of distraction, that he knew not 
where to turn for relief. He was soon after seized with 
a fever, under which he continued to suffer awful fore- 
bodings of future misery, saying that he was beyond 
the reach of mercy, and that God had sent his angel to 
tell him so. Hearing of his situation, William Wilson 
visited him, and endeavored to set before him the 
mercy of God in Christ Jesus, to those who repent of 
their sins and lay hold of the hope set before them in 
the Gospel. The sick man found peace to his troubled 
mind, recovered his health, obtained a discharge from 
the army, which he felt to be unfavorable to a re- 
ligious life, and settled down as an .exemplary Chris- 
tian. 

A similar reproof was once uttered by the pious 
William Romaine, of London. In crossing Blaekfriars' 
Bridge, he came up with a man, who, in impious 
language, called upon God "to damn his soul for 
Christ's sake !" Laying his hand upon the blasphemer's 
shoulder, Romaine said: "My friend, God has done 
many things for Christ's sake, and perhaps He will do 
that too." This probably brought home to the poor 
wretch's heart, a feeling of the awful character of his 
imprecation; and was so blessed by the Spirit of God, 
that it was made the occasion of a change in his 
course of life, so that he became a follower of the 
Redeemer. 

That is a curious trait of the human mind, which 
leads people who are apparently conscientious on some 
subjects, to practice gross wickedness in other direc- 
tions, apparently with little or no compunction. It is 
evident in such cases that they cannot be living fully 
under the light of the Spirit of Christ, for this testifies 
against all unrighteousness. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 477 

A striking example of this error in judgment was 
furnished by two Greek pirates who were tried and 
condemned at Malta in 1829. In the course of the trial 
it appeared that the beef and anchovies on board of one 
of the English vessels which they pirated, were left un- 
touched ; and the circumstances under which they were 
left appeared to the court so peculiar, that the culprits 
were asked the cause of it. They promptly answered that 
it was at the time of the great fast, when their church ate 
neither meat nor fish. They appeared to be most hard- 
ened and abandoned wretches, yet rigidly maintaining 
their religious character ; and while they were robbing 
and murdering, stealing the women and children of their 
countrymen and selling them to the Turks, they wished 
it understood that they were not so wicked as to taste 
meat or fish when prohibited by the canons of their 
church ! 

Similar in its character is the anecdote of the Nea- 
politan shepherd who cariie to his priest for absolution, 
because during the season of Lent, he had swallowed 
some whey which had spurted into his mouth as he 
was working a cheese-press. " Have you no other sins 
to confess ?" asked his spiritual guide. " No ; I do not 
know that I have committed any other." "There are," 
said the priest, " many robberies and murders from 
time to time committed on your mountains, and I have 
reason to believe that you are one of the persons con- 
cerned in them." " Yes, I am," he replied, " but these 
are never accounted as a crime ; it is a thing practised 
by us all, and there needs no confession on that ac- 
count!" 

A similar blindness (if it be blindness), or perversity 
is shown by those persons who when reproved for any- 
thing wrong in their conduct, attempt to justify them- 
selves by asserting that they are not guilty of certain 



478 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

other wrong actions. If told they should not swear 
or give way to their passionate feelings, such persons 
sometimes reply that at least they do not lie or steal. 
Thev forsret the exhortation of our Redeemer, " Be ve 
perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect;" and 
the declaration of the Apostle James, " Whosoever 
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, 
he is guilty of all." The scope of this declaration may 
be better understood, if we remember that a Christian 
is one who is under the government of the Spirit of 
Christ, and is walking in his holy light ; and that with- 
out faith in Him and filial submission to his will, man 
cannot partake of that joy and peace which He bestows 
upon his servants. "Whoever therefore acts in opposi- 
tion to his requirements, in so far deserts his service 
and enters the ranks of his enemies. 

The want of more thorough consistency with their 
profession in some who claim to be Christians, is a great 
hindrance to the spread of Christian principles in the 
earth. An atheist in conversation with one who pro- 
fessed Christianity, expressed his astonishment that 
those who believed the Christian religion to be true, 
could quiet their conscience in living so much like the 
world. "Did I believe," he said, " what you profess, 
I should think no care, no diligence, no zeal enough." 

The same stumbling effect is strikingly shown in the 
account of Lord Xugent, given by Frederick Smith, of 
London. He was a man highly connected with the 
families of the nobility, and had received in Germany 
a university education. But the bigotry, superstition 
and wickedness which he observed among the priests 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 479 

and professors of religion, gave him a disgust of the 
whole system, and led him to believe that it was founded 
in dissimulation and priestcraft. After coming over to 
England, he paid a visit to his relations in Ireland, 
who showed him great hospitality and kindness, and 
large convivial parties were invited where neither the 
manners nor the conversation were such as would bear 
much reflection. At one of these the incident occurred 
which he related to Frederick Smith as follows : — 

It happened one evening that the conversation took 
a religious turn, in the course of which I inadvertently 
leaned towards skepticism at least; on which one of the 
company hastily said, " Surely, sir, you do not doubt 
the existence of a Supreme Being?" To which I re- 
plied, " What are your sentiments on that subject?" 
" Why, sir, my sentiments are these : I look upon the 
Almighty as of infinite purity; as the object of both 
love and fear ; that I am in his immediate presence ; 
that it is through Him I live and move and have my 
being ; I consider that I am amenable to Him for every 
action of my life ; that if I do evil voluntarily, I run the 
hazard of his eternal displeasure, and wretchedness will 
be my portion ; but if I act according to his will, I shall 
be eternally happy." " Is this, sir, really and truly 
your belief?" " Yes, sir, it undoubtedly is, and is also 
the belief of every well-regulated Christian." 

" Then, sir, how comes it to pass that your actions 
correspond so little with your profession ? Is it possible 
that such a hearsay evidence as this would convince 
me, were I an atheist, of the truth of God's existence ? 
Has any part of your conduct, since we have been so 
often together, manifested either love, or fear, or reve- 
rence for this object of your pretended regard ? I wish 
not to give you offence, but see whether there is any- 
thing like consistency in your declarations, and in the 



480 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMABKS. 

conduct I am led to fear 3-011 are in the habitual prac- 
tice of." My friend seemed confused and thoughtful, 
and I immediately turned the discourse to another sub- 
ject,* 

The cruelty of the Spaniards to the natives of the 
New World naturally had the effect of exciting preju- 
dice against the religion they professed. It is said that 
one of the Cuban chiefs who was condemned to be 
burnt, when brought to the stake was exhorted to em- 
brace Christianity, and assured that if he did, he would 
be admitted to heaven. He then asked if there were 
any Spaniards in heaven. " Yes," said the priest who 
attended him, " but they are all good ones." The chief 
replied that he did not wish to go to a place where he 
would meet with any of that nation, and wanted to hear 
nothing more of their religion ! 

The stumbling effect which even slight inconsistencies 
of conduct may have upon the young and tender, is an 
added reason for that watchfulness which our Saviour 
enjoined upon his disciples. A somewhat amusing 
illustration of this was furnished by a clergyman of 
nervous temperament, who sometimes became quite 
vexed by finding his little grandchildren in his study. 
One day one of these little children was standing by his 
mother's side, and she was speaking to him of heaven. 

" Ma," said he, " I don't want to go to heaven." 

" Do not want to go to heaven, my son ?" 

"No, ma, I'm sure I don't." 

" Why not, my son ?" 

"Why, grandpa will be there, won't he?" 

" Why, yes, I hope he will." 

* The reader may find a further account of this interesting char- 
acter, and of his convincement of the truths of Christianity in 
Tract No. 22 of the Friends' Tract Association of Philadelphia. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 481 

" Well, as soon as he sees us, he will come scolding 
along, and say, ' Whew, whew, what are these boys 
here for ? I don't want to go to heaven if grandpa is 
going there." 

Rowland Hill once showed his appreciation of the 
necessity of a consistent life in a professor of religion, 
in a remark he made respecting one who had applied 
to be received into membership in the congregation 
with which he was connected. The candidate stated 
that his first impressions as to the evil of sin were pro- 
duced by a dream, which so affected him as to lead to 
serious inquiry. When he had ended, R. Hill said, 
" We do not wish to despise a good man's dreams by 
any means ; but we will tell you what we think of the 
dream, after we have seen how you go on when you are 
awake /" 

Our blessed Saviour said, " By their fruits ye shall 
know them ;" and if the fruit of a holy life is not mani- 
fested, fallible man, who judgeth by outward appear- 
ance, but cannot see into the heart of his fellow-man, 
has but imperfect means of knowing the real situation 
of others. A minister who had much experience in 
visiting the sick, said that it was very rarely the case 
with one who had not previously been serious, and had 
recovered from what he supposed the brink of death, 
that he afterwards performed his vows, and became re- 
ligious. 

Yery similar was the testimony of a pious physician, 
that of the sick who soon expecting to die, had been 
led as they supposed to repentance of sins, and saving 
faith in Christ, and afterwards were restored to health, 
not more than one in thirty gave evidence of being 
really regenerated. 
SI 



482 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

The energy and force displayed by a man who is 
thoroughly in earnest, and roused by some strong mo- 
tive to the exercise of his full powers, is graphically 
described in the following narration : There was a 
sea captain in command of an English vessel lying at 
Alexandria. He had left at home a wife and one child, 
a little invalid, Lucy. One day they brought him a 
telegram from England. He opened it leisurely, think- 
ing it was an ordinary message from his employers. 
This is what it said : " My dear, I think it right to 
tell you that Lucy's, worse." At once all was bustle on 
board ; all hands got orders which made them work 
their hardest. Goods not on board were left. Passen- 
gers flew to their places. Officers, sailors — all rushed 
from duty to duty, amazed at the pace of their captain's 
commands; and in a time which seemed incredibly 
short, the ship was out of the harbor, and at their 
greatest speed the engines drove her to sea. All won- 
dered what had happened. They did not know that 
into their captain's heart had entered those dreadful 
words, " "Lucy's ivorse." 

The wind arose and the waves rolled mountains 
high, but amid the storm he kept the ship to her 
course. Malta was reached ; but, to the moment, Malta 
was left again. " Why this haste ?" thought the Malta 
workers as they put cargo on board. It was those 
dreadful words, " Lucy's worse." 

The soldiers on the rock at Gibraltar, and the light- 
house man on Point Finisterre, wondered at the rate 
at which the ship passed out of the range of their 
glasses. " She must have splendid engines." But it 
was not the engines alone that made her glide so 
swiftly along, it was the fact that Lucy was worse. 
Away steamed the ship up the Channel, through the 
Dover Straits, around the Nore, up the Thames — till 
London was reached and the ship moored. That mo- 
ment the captain was gone. Next day the papers an- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 483 

nounced the " Wentworth" from Alexandria, as having 
had bad weather, but having made the shortest voyage 
on record. They did not add the reason; had they 
done so it would have been a short sentence about a 
frail child — "Lucy's worse." 

There is something very admirable in that courage 
which impels a man to the performance of his duty, no 
matter what dangers may be in the way, or what suf- 
fering may be occasioned thereby. How many hearts 
have been thrilled by the reply of Paul to those who 
endeavored to dissuade him from going up to Jerusa- 
lem, where he had been assured that bonds and impris- 
onment awaited him, " What mean ye to weep and to 
break mine heart ? for I am ready not to be bound only, 
but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord 
Jesus !" Thousands since his day have been animated 
by the same holy courage, and have been willing to 
suffer the loss of all things, rather than to fall short in 
doing that which they believed was the Divine will 
concerning them. 

George Whitehead mentions in his Journal, that in 
the year 1665 the plague broke out in London, and 
many thousands died. He was then engaged in reli- 
gious service in other parts of England, but felt it re- 
quired of him to go to the city. He says, " It was a 
time of great calamity, sorrow and heaviness to many 
thousands of all sorts; and that which added to our 
Friends' affliction, was the hardness of our persecutors' 
hearts, their cruelty and barbarity in imprisoning and 
detaining many of them in prison, after the plague was 
greatly broken forth, and many people swept away 
by it. 

" I had not then freedom, satisfaction or peace to 



484 FOOTPRINTS AXD WAYMARKS. 

leave the city, or Friends in and about Loudon, in that 
time of great and general calamity, no, not when the 
mortality was at its height; but was concerned and 
given up in spirit to stay among them to attend Friends' 
meetings ; to visit Friends in prison and at their houses; 
even when many of them lay sick of the contagion y 
both in prison and at their habitations. 

"Although it was judged the prisons were then in- 
fected and poisoned with the contagion, I was freely 
given up to suffer imprisonment; and on First-days 
took my night-cap in my pocket when I went to meet- 
ing, not knowing but I might be apprehended at some 
meeting and committed to prison. The Lord gave me 
faith to be resigned to his will, either to live, or to die 
for his name and Truth's sake ; and through all those 
dangers and difficulties, to bear my testimony in faith- 
fulness to his blessed power and life of righteousness. 

" Being then a witness of that love which casts out 
fear, through the great mercy and love of my Heavenly 
Father, manifest in his dear Son, I was not afraid to 
visit my friends when sick and in infected prisons. The 
Lord bore up my spirit in living faith, above the fear 
of death, or the contagious distemper, and my life was 
resigned in the will of Him who gave it." 

A high degree of this courage may be manifested by 
those who are naturally timid, and who are by no 
means insensible of the risks they encounter ; but in 
whom the sense of duty overpowers all emotions of 
fear. Such devotion to duty was manifested by Elisha 
Tyson, who lived in Baltimore in the early part of this 
century, and who devoted much of his time to rescuing 
from slavery those who were illegally held in bondage. 
Public sentiment had not then been fully awakened to 
the evils of slavery ; so that E. Tyson's efforts met with 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 485 

little sympathy, but brought upon him the ill-will of 
many, and the charge of officious intermeddling, as well 
as often exposed him to personal dangers. The account 
preserved of him says, " Whenever he perceived the 
absence of a link in the chain of title to a slave, he 
filed a petition for the trial of the right, regardless of 
the vituperation and abuse, which, on these occasions, 
always flowed in plentiful streams. Indian origin, a 
free maternal ancestor, or the importation of progeni- 
tors from a foreign country, as they broke the fetters 
of bondage, were the objects of his inquiries. He took 
his measures with great caution, and never filed a peti- 
tion till his own mind, at least, was free from doubt, as 
to the right of the slave to liberty. He is said, in the 
course of his life, to have been instrumental in liberat- 
ing two thousand slaves !" 

Superior to fear himself, the terror of his name, 
and the firmness of his character, paralyzed the slave 
dealer. On one occasion, learning that a negro en- 
titled to liberty was confined on board of a ship lying 
at anchor about a mile from Baltimore, just about to 
sail for New Orleans, he procured two officers and ap- 
proached the vessel. When within hearing, he said to 
the dealer, " I understand that a colored person in thy 
possession is entitled to his freedom." Upon the trader's 
denial of the allegation, Tyson read some documents 
which described the negro's person and evidenced his 
manumission ; but just at that instant, a breeze induced 
the captain to order the hoisting of the sails to put to 
sea. Sensible of the importance of prompt exertion, 
our philanthropist declared his intention to board, de- 
siring the two constables to follow him; when the 
dealer, unsheathing his dagger, swore " that the first 



486 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

man that set foot upon that ship was a dead man." 
Without consulting the cold dictates of prudence, Elisba 
Tyson leaped on board, crying out, " Then I will be that 
man." The ruffian retreated in dismay, suffering his 
victim to be dragged from the hold, where he was se- 
cured, without resistance, and without a murmur. The 
trader was invited to contest his right to the negro in a. 
court of justice, to which, he was informed, the case 
would be submitted ; but aware of the worthlessness of 
his claim, or being obliged to depart, no opposition was 
made, and the man was restored to freedom. 

In one of the dungeons in Baltimore, arranged for 
the reception of such poor wretches as were designed, 
for transportation, he ascertained that several free ne- 
groes who had been kidnapped, and destined for Geor- 
gia, were confined. Determining to liberate them, he 
solicited some friends to attend him ; but they, aware 
of the danger, and believing an attempt at their rescue 
utterly hopeless, not only refused their assistance, but 
advised the relinquishment of so hazardous an enter- 
prise. Having spent a great part of the night in vain 
efforts for aid, he set out alone at an advanced hour, to 
beard the tiger in his lair. Oaths, imprecations, and 
loud laughter, announced to him, on his arrival, the 
assemblage of several negro-traders, in gay carousal. 
He entered without hesitation, announcing thus the 
object of his visit, " I understand that there are persons 
in this place entitled to their freedom." "You have 
been wrongly informed," replied the leader, " and be- 
sides, what business is it of yours ?" " Whether I have 
been wrongly informed," calmly rejoined the unwel- 
come visitor, " can be soon made to appear ; and I hold 
it to be my business, as it is the business of every good 
man in the community, to see that all doubts of this 
kind are settled," — at the same time approaching the 
door of the dungeon. "You shall advance no further." 
thundered the leader, placing himself in a hostile atti- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 487 

tude, and uttering a tremendous oath. By an effort of 
strength, our hero broke through the arms of his op- 
poser and hastened to the dungeon. At the door stood 
a sentinel with a cocked pistol, which presenting to the 
breast of Tyson, he swore he would shoot unless he de- 
sisted. " Shoot if thee dare !" answered his collected 
adversary in an elevated tone, " but thee dare not ! — 
coward as thou art — for well does thee know that the 
gallows will be thy portion !" The menacing pistol fell 
harmless to the side of the miscreant, and Tyson, seiz- 
ing the light which he held in his left hand, entered the 
dungeon without further molestation. There he beheld 
several miserable victims of cruelty, one of whom was 
gagged. Upon inquiry, he was informed that a mother 
and two boys among them were free — that they had 
been decoyed away, and placed there with a view to 
perpetual slavery in Georgia. Assuring them of suc- 
cor, he went in pursuit of two constables, who, upon 
the execution of a bond of indemnity, rendered their 
assistance. The finale was, that the mother and boys 
were declared free, and one of the traders was con- 
victed of their kidnapping, and sentenced to the peni- 
tentiary. 

Elisha Tyson died in 1824, at the advanced age of 
seventy-five. It is related that for two days his house 
was crowded with those who came to look at his re- 
mains ; and that ten thousand persons of color walked 
at his funeral. 

In those days of slavery, free people of color were 
often seized and sold into bondage. To rescue such 
victims required much effort, and a willingness to en- 
dure reproach as meddlers and busybodies, which at 
this time we can scarcely appreciate. The late Thomas 
Shipley, of Philadelphia, was one of those who faith- 



488 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

fully labored in this field of philanthropy. Although 
then quite young, I remember well the feeling of preju- 
dice to which he was subjected, and which it required 
much courage to despise. He died in 1836, and the 
poet Whittier wrote a beautiful tribute to his memory, 
of which the following stanza is descriptive of his char- 
acter : — 

"Oh! for that spirit, meek and mild, 

Derided, spurned, yet uncomplaining — 
By man deserted and reviled, 

Yet faithful to its trust remaining. 
Still prompt and resolute to save 
From scourge and chain the hunted slave ! 
Unwavering in the Truth's defence, 

Even where the fires of hate are burning ; 
Th' unquailing eye of innocence 

Alone upon th' oppressor turning !" 

Reference has been made to the efforts of Thomas 
Shipley, of Philadelphia, on behalf of colored people 
who were illegally claimed as slaves. His energy and 
perseverance in this humane work were truly remark- 
able ; and the amount of time and labor which he ex- 
pended in it would seem incredible to one who did not 
know how full}' his heart was enlisted in the cause. 
Among the papers which he left was a memorandum 
book, in which he briefly noted, in the order of their 
occurrence, such instances of difficulty or distress as 
had claimed his care. This showed that twenty-rive 
such cases had demanded his interference in the sum- 
mer of 1836, from Seventh Month 16th to Eighth 
Month 24th. His biographer, Isaac Parrish, gives a 
particular account of one case, which was unusually 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 489 

important in those times, when a strong pro-slavery 
feeling animated too many persons even in the North- 
ern States, because the issue of it was to secure to the 
colored people of New Jersey, claimed as slaves, the 
right of a trial by jury to determine the question 
whether they were legally bond or free, instead of 
leaving that momentous decision to a single magistrate. 
The proceedings, of which a statement was published 
in the ninth volume of The Friend, illustrate in a 
forcible manner the decision of character, self-sacrificing 
energy, and untiring perseverance of Thomas Shipley. 

In his memorandum book, already referred to, under 
date of Twelfth Month, 1835, he mentions that he 
spent eighteen days in the trial of A. Hemsley, his 
wife and three children, who had been arrested at 
Mount Holly, N. J., as slaves by claimants from Mary- 
land. Isaac Parrish's narrative says that " Soon after 
the arrest of this family, information of the fact was 
sent to Philadelphia, with the request of aid and coun- 
sel from the ' Pennsylvania Abolition Society,' &c. 
Late in the evening a friend called on Thomas Shipley 
to inform him of the circumstance. He was lying on 
the sofa, suffering from a severe attack of headache, to 
which he was subject, and which always very much re- 
duced his strength and spirits." When the business 
of the friend was made known to him, he seemed ani- 
mated with renewed vigor, and listened attentively to 
the narrative; he entered at once into the merits of the 
case, and expressed his determination to proceed the 
next morning to Mount Holly. He procured the aid 
of an energetic and distinguished counsellor, David 
Paul Brown, who, with his usual humanity and disin- 
terestedness, in all cases where liberty is at stake, ac- 
companied him, and remained during the progress of 



490 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

the trial. The circumstances of the case were briefly 
the following: The woman and children had been regu- 
larly manumitted in Delaware by the father of the 
claimant, while the title of the father to freedom was 
less positive, though sufficiently clear to warrant a vig- 
orous effort on his behalf. 

" The first object of the counsel on the part of the 
alleged fugitive, was to prove the manumission of the 
mother and the children, and, as it was thought, the 
necessary documents for that purpose were collected 
and arranged. After the trial had proceeded, however, 
for a short time, counsellor David Paul Brown discov- 
ered a defect in the testimony on this point; the neces- 
sary papers, duly authenticated by the Governor and 
Chief Justice of Delaware, were missing, and without 
them it was impossible to make out the case. The fact 
was immediately communicated to Thomas Shipley — 
he saw that the papers must be had, and that they could 
not be procured without a visit to Dover, in Delaware. 
He at once determined to repair thither in person, and 
obtain them. Without the knowledge of the claimant's 
counsel, who might have taken advantage of the omis- 
sion and hurried the case to a decision; he started on 
the evening of Sixth-day, and travelled as fast as pos- 
sible to Dover, in the midst of a season unusually cold 
and inclement. On the next morning inquiries were 
made for friend Shipley. It was thought strange that 
he should desert his post in the midst of so exciting and 
momentous a trial, and at a time when his presence 
seemed to be particularly required. The counsel for 
the prisoners, who were aware of his movements, pro- 
ceeded with the examination of witnesses as slowly as 
possible, in order to allow time for procuring this im- 
portant link in the chain of testimony, and thus to pro- 
crastinate the period when they should be called upon 
to sum up the case. 

" Fortunately, on the evening of the day on which 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 491 

Thomas Shipley set out upon his journey, it was pro- 
posed to adjourn, and farther proceedings were post- 
poned until Second-day morning. At the meeting of 
Court, in the morning, the expected messenger was not 
there, and the ingenuity of the counsel was taxed still 
farther to procrastinate the important period. After 
consuming three hours in debate upon legal points, 
&c, he who was so anxiously looked for, came hurry- 
ing through the crowd, making his way toward the 
bench. His countenance and his movements soon con- 
vinced the wondering spectators that he was the bearer 
of something important, and in a few minutes the mys- 
tery of his absence was revealed, by the production of 
the document which was the fruit of his labor. This 
document completely established the legal title of the 
mother and children to freedom, and placed them out 
of the reach of their persecutors. This result was ob- 
tained greatly to the joy of the multitude, and to the 
disgrace and discomfiture of the miserable beings who 
were seeking to make property of a defenceless female 
and her innocent offspring. 

" The constant exertion and fatigue endured by our 
devoted friend, in procuring these documents, travel- 
ling in the midst of winter, almost without stopping to 
take nourishment or repose, had produced a state of 
prostration, which brought on an attack of nervous 
headache, the severity of which caused his friends con- 
siderable uneasiness. This, however, was soon dispelled 
by the invigorating influence of sleep, and on the next 
day he was prepared for another campaign in the case 
of the distressed husband and father. It may be proper 
to remark in this place, that Judge H., before whom 
this cause was tried, was a Virginian by birth, and pos- 
sessed all those predilections in favor of the claims of 
slave-holders which are engendered by the education 
and habits of those who are nurtured in the midst of 
slavery. However upright may be the intentions of 



492 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

such a judge, it will not be denied that in a doubtful case 
his decision might be influenced by the peculiar bias of 
his mind in relation to the parties interested ; and hence 
the friends of the colored man, although convinced that 
the evidence was insufficient to establish his slavery, 
were seriously apprehensive that the mind of the judge 
would not be so readily brought to this point, and that 
his decision would be against them. 

" To avert this calamity, his able and persevering 
counsel, D. P. Brown, suggested that a writ of certiorari, 
which would oblige the judge to remove the case to 
the Supreme Court, and a habeas eoryus from the Chief 
Justice of the State, should both be in readiness when 
the decision of the judge should be pronounced, in or- 
der that if it should be unfavorable, the writs might be 
at once served, and thus oblige him to remand the 
prisoner, not into the hands of the claimant, but to the 
sheriff of the county, to be brought up before the Su- 
preme Court, at its session in Trenton, for another 
trial. 

" To procure these writs it was necessary to obtain 
the signature of the Chief Justice of New Jersey, who 
resided at Newark, and again Thomas Shipley was 
ready to enter with alacrity into the service. He saw 
the importance of the measure, and that it would require 
prompt action, inasmuch as the decision of the judge 
would probably be pronounced on the following day. It 
fortunately happened that a friend was leaving for New- 
ark, in his own conveyance, and feeling an interest in 
the case, he kindly invited friend Shipley to accompany 
him. They left in the afternoon, travelled all night, 
and arrived at Newark by daylight on the following 
morning. The weary traveller was unwilling, however, 
to retire to bed, although the night was exceedingly 
cold and tempestuous, but he proceeded at once to the 
house of the Chief Justice. He called the worthy judge 
from his bed, offering the importance of His business, 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 493 

and the necessity of speedy action, as an apology for so 
unseasonable a visit. Chief Justice Hornblower, on 
being informed of the circumstances of the case, ex- 
pressed pleasure at having it in his power to accede to 
his wishes, and treated him with a respect and kind- 
ness which the disinterested benevolence of his mission 
was calculated to inspire. 

" Having obtained the necessary papers, he left at 
once for Mount Holly, where he arrived on the follow- 
ing day, in time to place the writs in the hands of the 
sheriff, just before the decision of Judge H. was pro- 
nounced. Had he consulted his ease or convenience, 
and deferred his visit to Newark a few hours, or had 
he, as most men under similar circumstances would have 
done, reposed his weary limbs after a cold and dreary 
ride of eighty miles, in order to enable him to return 
with renewed strength, he would have arrived too late 
to render this meritorious effort effectual. As it was 
he was there in time. The judge, according to the ex- 
pectation of the friends of the colored man, gave his 
decision in favor of the slaveholders, and ordered poor 
Alexander to be given up to the tender mercies of the 
exasperated claimant. The decision sent a thrill of 
indignation through the anxious and excited multitude, 
which perhaps was never equalled amongst the inhab- 
itants of that quiet town. The friends of humanity had 
assembled from all parts of the country to witness the 
proceedings in the case. Many of them were person- 
ally acquainted with the prisoner; they knew him to be 
a man of intelligence and integrity ; he was an indus- 
trious citizen, and was universally respected in the 
neighborhood. 

" While public feeling was in this state of excitement, 
up stepped the sheriff with his writ of certiorari; this he 
deliberately handed to the judge. It was instantly re- 
turned, and the stern officer who sat unmoved by a 
scene to which he was probably not accustomed, and 



494 FOOTPRINTS AND WATMARKS. 

conceiving, perhaps, bis official dignity was impugned, 
still persisted in his determination that the prisoner 
should be handed over to his claimant. A writ of habeas 
corpus, signed by the Chief Justice of the State, and 
demanding the body of the prisoner, before the Su- 
preme Court, at its next term, was now produced! 

" The astonished judge found himself completely 
foiled. He had exercised his authority to its utmost 
limit, in support of the claims of his slaveholding 
friends, and had given the influence of his station and 
character to bolster up the ' patriarchal institution,' 
but it was all in vain. Just as they supposed they had 
achieved a victory, they were obliged to succumb to a 
higher tribunal, and to see their victim conveyed be- 
yond their reach in the safe keeping of the sheriff. 

"In the Third Month the case was brought up before 
the Supreme Court for final adjudication. In the mean- 
time Thomas Shipley adopted vigorous measures to 
have the facts collected and arranged. He procured 
the aid of an intelligent and humane friend of the cause, 
who resided near Trenton, to attend, personally, to the 
case, and secured the legal services of Theodore Fre- 
linghuysen, well known as one of the most gifted and 
virtuous statesman of the age, and a warm and zealous 
friend of the oppressed. Under these happy auspices 
the case came before the Supreme Court, and gave rise 
to a highly interesting and important argument, in 
which the distinguished Frelinghuysen appeared as the 
disinterested advocate of the prisoner, and urged upon 
the Court his claim to liberty under the laws of New 
Jersey, in a speech which was one of his most brilliant 
and eloquent efforts, and added another to the many 
laurels which his genius and philanthrophy have 
achieved. 

" The opinion of Chief Justice Hornblower was given 
at length, and is said to have displayed a soundness and 
extent of legal knowledge, with a spirit of mildness and 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 495 

humanity, well worthy of the highest judicial tribunal 
of New Jersey. 

"By this decision Alexander Helmsley was declared 
to be a free man, and returned with rejoicing into the 
bosom of his family and to the enjoyment of the rights 
and privileges of a free citizen. 

" Thus terminated this interesting case, which for 
several months agitated the public mind of Burlington 
County to an extent almost unequalled. It had its use 
in rousing the attention of many of the citizens of that 
State to a consideration of the outrages which might be 
practised on her free colored inhabitants under the 
shelter of the laws, and of the necessity of such a change 
in her code as should afford more perfect protection for 
these defenceless citizens. 

" At the next session of the Legislature following the 
decision of this case, a law was passed securing the 
right of trial by jury to persons seized as slaves — a law 
which places that State on an honorable footing with 
several of her sisters of the Confederacy." 

Who can doubt that Thomas Shipley must have felt 
a peculiar satisfaction in the issue of this case, and the 
blessing of him who was ready to perish, and the ap- 
proval of our common Father, who neglects none of his 
children, must have amply rewarded him for his efforts? 

T. Shipley deceased the seventeenth of Ninth Month, 
1836, at his home in Philadelphia. 

Many years ago, a cargo of negroes, brought from 
Africa, was landed on the coast, near Savannah, 
Georgia. The negroes were immediately sold to plan- 
ters, and by them put upon their plantations to work. 
Unable to speak a word of English, ignorant and de- 
graded as it was 'possible for them to be, they were, at 
the same time, docile and obedient, and readily learned 
to perform the duties assigned them. One of them 
came into the possession of my family under the fol- 
lowing circumstances : 



496 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

One morning Uncle Abram, father's colored mana- 
ger on the plantation, came into the yard leading a 
very tall and exceedingly black negro man, whose 
hands were tied in front of him with a rope, one end 
of which Abram held. Father, mother, little sister 
Nelly, and myself, met him at the steps, where Abram 
explained that his prisoner was Mingo, the African 
whom our neighbor, Mr. Jenkins, had bought some 
time before, who had run away from his master and 
been caught in one of father's cotton-houses, asleep. 

" Why did you tie him," asked father, reprovingly. 

"Being a wild African, I was afraid of him, sir," 
said Abram, apologetically. 

Mingo stood leaning against the steps, listless and 
indifferent, and, if understanding the conversation 
ing no sign to it. . 

"Anna," said my father, " I expect the poor creature 
is half starved. Give him some breakfast, and I will 
take him home myself, and see if I can't keep Jenkins 
from being too hard on him. He is a cruel master." 

This man Jenkins had once been father's overseer, 
and been dismissed from the plantation for undue 
severity with the negroes. 

Mother went into the house and returned, bringing 
a plate of food. 

" Mingo," said she, going close up to him and speak- 
ing very gently, " I am going to untie this rope, that 
you may eat. You will not try to get away — will 
you?" 

Although he probably did not comprehend all she 
said, still the voice, manner, and the food, all indicated 
kindness. With a weary sigh he said, simply : 

"Mingo stay." 

With her own fingers, mother untied the rope ten- 
derly, lest she hurt his bruised wrists, and making him 
sit down, placed the plate of food on his lap and bade 
him eat. The verse her own lips had taught me flashed 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 497 

across my mind : "A cup of water in my name to the 
least of these." 

Taking father by the hand, mother led him into the 
house. Through an open window I saw her standing 
before him, her tender eyes suffused with tears, and, 
like Esther before the king, pleading with all her soul 
for this poor member of an oppressed race. Mingo had 
finished eating when they returned, mother's face shin- 
ing as if an angel had touched it. Father, too, looked 
greatly concerned. 

" Give Mingo a hoe," he said, " and let him cut 
down those weeds behind the smoke-house, while I'm 
away. And mind, Mingo, you are not to get out of 
sight of the house." 

- - llffigo obediently took the hoe and went to work, 
still showing absolute indifference to everything. 

Father mounted his horse, which stood ready saddled, 
and rode away, saying : 

" I will do my best, Anna, to gratify you." 

I went into the house to recite my lessons to mother. 
When they were - over, she took me by the hand, and, 
carrying her little Bible, led me to the place where 
Mingo was at work. Seating herself upon a bench, 
she told him to put down his hoe, she wished to talk 
with him. Mingo sat upon a wheelbarrow, folded his 
hands upon his knees, and looked silently upon the 
ground. Just then Nelly came flitting across the yard 
to where we were, her clustering curls and soft white 
dress floating out with the rapidity of her movements. 
She never seemed to walk, but to fly like a bird. As 
she nestled down by mother, Mingo gave a quick look 
at her, and an expression of pleased surprise crept over 
his stolid face. 

" Mingo," said mother, "did you run away?" 

" Yaw," he answered. 

" Why did you do it ? Didn't you know you would 
be caught and whipped. 



498 FOOTPRINTS AND WATMARKS 

" Mingo no mine," lie replied listlessly. 

Mother's face contracted as with great pain, but her 
voice was soft as music with sympathy as she con- 
tinued. 

" Do they treat you badly, Mingo ?" 

" Hurt Mingo's back," he said. " Mingo no mine. 
Mingo's heart hurt ; want to see mudder, brudders," — 
and the great tears came into his eyes. 

I can never forget the expression that came over 
mother's face as she realized that this poor benighted 
creature, urged by his love of home and mother, had 
actually set out to reach the shores of Africa that he 
might be with them. 

" Mingo," she said gently, " did you ever hear of 
God, of Jesus, of heaven?" 

He shook his head vaguely in response to each ques- 
tion. Simply, as if talking to a child, she told him the 
story of his creation, of God's great love for him, of 
Christ's death that he might live ; she pictured to his 
darkened mind heaven and the angels. At last open- 
ing her Bible, she read to him verse after verse from 
Revelation, closing with the words : "And God shall 
wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be 
no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither 
shall there be any more pain." 

Shutting the book, she looked up into his face. The 
tears were flowing down his dusky cheeks. 

Suddenly Xelly sprang from mother's side, and run- 
ning up to him, put her hand into her pocket, and, 
taking out her mite of a handkerchief, reached up and 
wiped the tears from his eyes and cheeks. I was 
frightened, and sprang forward to draw her back ; for, 
like Abram, I had a terror of the wild African ; but 
mother held me back, saying: 

"Be still Robert!" 

Mingo slowly unclasped his hands and put them 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 499 

behind him, as though he feared to touch something 
sacred. 

"Lilly gal angel?" he asked, looking wistfully into 
mother's face. 

"No," she answered, smiling through her tears. 

"Look laik angel," continued Mingo, gazing at 
Nelly with awe and admiration. 

" Come, Nelly," said mother, " we will go to the 
hx>use now." 

She turned away, deeply touched. Nelly smiled 
into the black face above her, and said : 

" Nelly sorry for Mingo. Keep Nelly's handkerchief 
to wipe his eyes." 

Putting the handkerchief into his hand, she ran 
away to the house. 

Father returned soon after. Looking into mother's 
happy face, he said : 

" Yes, my dear, I have bought Mingo. Jenkins said 
he was glad to get rid of him. Now, what will you do 
with him ? He is your property, and I wash my hands 
of him." 

" I'll accept the responsibility," cried mother, de- 
lightedly. 

Mingo was called up and told the change in his con- 
dition. The full meaning of it dawned upon him slowly. 
When at last he realized it, he fell at mother's feet, 
clasped his hands, and with tears and laughter, cried 
out : " Whip Mingo ! Starve Mingo ! Mingo no run 
'way. Lib wid pritty lady an' lily gal, hear 'bout God, 
'bout Jesus." 

So Mingo became our slave. His devotion to mother 
and Nelly was extreme ; and not long after his purchase, 
he was the means of saving them from almost certain 
death. The horses drawing the light carriage in which 
they were driving, became frightened, and dashed head- 
long towards a long, narrow bridge spanning a deep 
creek. Mingo was in a field near by, picking cotton 



500 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

with other negroes. He rushed to the rescue, and, 
seizing the horses by the bridles, brought them to a 
sudden stop. Trampled beneath the horses' feet, he 
received an ugly cut in his face and a bad hurt in his 
hip, but he kept his hold until other assistance came. 
In an unconscious condition he was carried home. As 
soon as he opened his eyes and saw mother bending 
tearfully over him, he asked : 

" Mistiss an' lilly gal no hurt ?" 

Assured that they were safe, he smiled, and never 
alluded to the occurrence again. 

Mother nursed him faithfully, read to him, prayed 
with him, her whole soul absorbed with the desire for 
his salvation, Nelly all the while flitting around his bed 
like a white dove. The cuts healed, and he was well, 
except for a slight lameness, which never left him : 
and he was afterwards kept about the yard, to do such 
light work as wood-chopping and gardening. He never 
grew out of the simplicity of childhood. 

One day, not long after his illness, he told mother he 
wished to be baptized and join the church. Father had 
upon the plantation a house, in which a minister of the 
Gospel preached to the negroes. On the Sundays when 
he was absent, mother was accustomed to go to it, tak- 
ing Nelly and myself with her, and read and sang with 
such of the negroes as wished to come. Mingo was 
always present, sitting very close to mother, very quiet 
and very attentive. After he expressed a desire for 
baptism, at the next coming of the minister it was at- 
tended to. He objected to any change in his name, 
saying : 

" Maybe meet mudder in hebben. Mudder knows 
Mingo. No know new name." 

With the close of the war came a great change. 
Father died, and the plantation went to ruin for the 
want of proper management. Mother moved to a 
neighboring town, that Nelly and I might go to school. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 501 

Mingo followed us, but we were too poor to keep him ; 
so, by mother's advice, he supported himself by hiring 
to do odd jobs, we helping him when he needed it. He 
came constantly to see us, bringing always to Nelly 
something he had picked up in his rambles — a pretty 
shell or flower, or bright feather from some bird's 
wing. 

One fearful day little Nelly sickened suddenly and 
died. While she lay in her coffin, mother, sitting be- 
side her, heard the familiar call with which Mingo al- 
ways announced his coming. Going out, she found 
him at the steps, a cluster of pure white lilies, gathered 
from the woods, in his hands. He had not heard of 
Nelly's death, so smiled and looked around mother for 
a sight of her. Not seeing her, he held up the lilies 
and said, " Fur lilly gal." 

Choking down her sobs, mother led him to the room 
where lay Nelly, with white flowers all about her, asleep 
in death. 

Regardless of those around him, Mingo fell upon his 
knees and gazed long and intently into the sweet, pale 
face; then, looking up at mother, while a heavenly light 
rested upon his scarred and dusky countenance, he 
whispered : 

" Lilly gal angel now ?" 

" Yes," sobbed mother. 

" Lib in hebben wid God ?" 

"Yes." 

"Jesus take her?" 

"Yes." 

He arose from his knees, and, laying the lilies rever- 
ently above the little heart — now so still — but which 
had so often bounded at the coming of her humble 
friend, he limped out of the room. 

Mingo's visits to us became rarer after Nelly's death, 
although he still retained his strong love for my mother. 
For several weeks we lost sight of him altogether, when 



502 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

one evening a negro came to tell mother that Mingo 
was very ill and wished to see her. She went imme- 
diately, and found him hopelessly ill with pneumonia. 
As she entered the room, he looked gratefully towards 
her, and held out a feeble hand. 

" Mingo," said mother, wiping the death-dew from 
his forehead, " is there anything I can do for you ?" 

Reaching his hand inside his bosom, Mingo drew 
out a little scrap of something white, and laid it in 
mother's hand. She opened it. It was the little hand- 
kerchief with which ISTelly had wiped away his tears 
the day he came to us a trembling fugitive. He had 
treasured it through all these long years. 

" When Mingo go, put it on face," he whispered. 

" Mingo," asked mother, in tears, " are you ready to 
go?" 

She leaned over him to catch his answer. It came, 
broken and almost inaudible : 

" Mingo no 'fraid — Mistis tell 'bout God — 'bout Jesus 
— 'bout angels. Mingo b'l'eve ; — Mingo no go home 
an' see mudder — go hebben, see lilly angel." 

With a smile upon his face, and looking straight into 
mother's eyes, he died. 

In the life of John G. Paton, who labored for many 
years among the New Hebrides Islands to spread a 
knowledge of Christianity among the people, there is 
a very interesting account of his efforts to obtain a 
supply of fresh water, by digging a well on the coral 
island of Aniwa. It furnishes a striking example of 
the success that often attends persevering labor ; and of 
the faith in Divine direction that enabled him to com- 
plete the arduous task, under great discouragements, 
and of the manner in which it sometimes pleases our 
Father in Heaven to make use of outward ii.strumen- 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 503 

talities to promote his own gracious spiritual designs. 
He thus describes the well digging : 

At certain seasons the natives drink very unwhole- 
some water; and, indeed, the best water they had at 
any time for drinking purposes was from the precious 
cocoa-nut, a kind of apple of Paradise for all these 
Southern Isles ! They also cultivate the sugar-cane 
very extensively and in great variety ; and they chew 
it, when we would fly to water for thirst, so it is to 
them both food and drink. The black fellow carries 
with him to the field, when he goes off for a day's work, 
four or five sticks of sugar-cane, and puts in his time 
comfortably enough on these. Besides, the sea being 
their universal bathing-place, in which they swattle 
like fish, and little water, almost none, being required 
for cooking purposes, and none whatever for washing 
clothes, the lack of fresh springing water was not the 
dreadful trial to them that it would be to us. Yet they 
appreciate and rejoice in it immensely too, though the 
water of the green cocoanut is refreshing, and in ap- 
pearance, taste and color, not unlike lemonade — one 
nut filling a tumbler; and though when mothers die, 
they feed the babies on it and on the soft white pith, 
and they flourish on the same, yet the natives them- 
selves show their delight in preferring, when they can 
get it, the milk from the goat, and the water from the 
well. 

My household felt sadly the want of fresh water. I 
prepared two large casks, to be filled when the rain 
came. But when we attempted to do so at the water- 
hole near the village, the natives forbade us, fearing 
that our large casks would carry all the water away, 
and leave none for them with their so much smaller 
cocoa-nut bottles. This public water-hole was on the 
ground of two Sacred Men, who claimed the power of 
emptying and filling it by rain at will. The supersti- 



504 FOOTPRINTS AND WATMARKS. 

tious natives gave them presents to bring the rain. If 
it came soon, they took all the credit for it. If not, 
they demanded larger gifts to satisfy their gods. Even 
our Aneityumese teachers said to me, when I protested 
that surely they could not believe such things — " It is 
hard to know, Missi. The water does come and go 
quickly. If }'ou paid them well, they might bring the 
rain, and let us fill our casks !" I told them that, as 
followers of Jehovah, we must despise all heathen 
mummeries, and trust in Him and in the laws of his 
creation to help us. 

Aniwa, having therefore no permanent supply of 
fresh water, in spring or stream, or lake, I resolved, 
by the help of God, to sink a well near the Mission 
Premises, hoping that a wisdom higher than my own 
would guide me to the source of some blessed spring. 
Of the scientific conditions of such an experiment I was 
completely ignorant; but I counted on having to dig 
through earth and coral above thirty feet, and my con- 
stant fear was, that owing to our environment, the 
water, if water, I found, could only be salt water after 
ail my toil. Still, I resolved to sink that shaft in hope, 
and in faith, that the Son of God would be glorified 
thereby. 

One morning I said to the old Chief and his fellow- 
chief, both now earnestly inquiring about the religion 
of Jehovah and of Jesus — 

" I am going to sink a deep well down into the earth, 
to see if our God will send us fresh water up from 
below/"' 

They looked at me with astonishment, and said in a 
tone of sympathy, approaching to pity, " Oh Missi .' 
Wait till the rain comes down, and we will save all we 
possibly can for you." 

I replied, " We may all die for lack of water. If no 
fresh water can be got, we may be forced to leave you." 

The old chief looked imploringly, and said, kw Oh 






FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 505 

Missi ! you must not leave us for that. Rain comes 
only from above. How could you expect our island to 
send up showers of rain from below?" 

I told him, " Fresh water does come up springing 
from the earth in my land at home, and I hope to see 
it here also." 

The old Chief grew more tender in his tones, and 
cried, " Oh Missi, your bead is going wrong: you are 
losing something, or you would not talk wild like that ! 
Don't let our people hear you talking about going down 
into the earth for rain, or they will never listen to your 
word, or believe you again." 

But I started upon my hazardous job, selecting a 
spot near the Mission Station and close to the public 
path, that my prospective well might be useful to all. 
I began to dig, with pick and spade and bucket at 
hand, an American axe for a hammer and crow-bar, 
and a ladder for service by-and-bye. The good old 
Chief now told off his men in relays to watch me, lest 
I should attempt to -take my own life, or do anything 
outrageous, saying — 

" Poor Missi ! That's the way with all who go mad. 
There's no driving of a notion out of their heads. We 
must watch him now. He will find it harder to work 
with pick and spade than with his pen, and when he's 
tired we'll persuade him to give it up." 

I did get exhausted sooner than I expected, toiling 
under that tropical sun ; but we never own before the 
natives that we are beaten, so I went into the house 
and filled my vest pocket with large, beautiful English 
made fish-hooks. These are very tempting to the 
young men, as compared with their own, skilfully made 
though they be out of shell, and serving their purpose 
wonderfully. Holding up a large hook, I cried, " One 
of these to every man who fills and turns over three 
buckets out of this hole !" 

A rush was made to get the first turn, and back again 



506 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

for another and another. I kept those on one side who 
had got a turn, till the rest in order had a chance, and 
bucket after bucket was filled and emptied rapidly. 
Still the shaft seemed to lower very slowly, while my 
fish-hooks were disappearing very quickly. I was con- 
stantly there and took the heavy share of everything, 
and was thankful one evening, to find we had cleared 
more than twelve feet deep, when lo ! one morning one 
side had rushed in, and our work was all undone. 

The old Chief and his best men now came around 
me more earnestly than ever. He remonstrated with 
me very gravel}'. He assured me for the fiftieth time 
that rain would never be seen coming up through the 
earth on Aniwa. 

" Now," said he, " had you been in that hole last 
night, you would have been buried, and a man-of-war 
would have come from Queen 'Toria to ask for the 
Missi that lived here. We would say, ' Down in that 
hole.' The captain would ask, ' Who killed him and 
put him down there ?' We would have to say, * He 
went down there himself!' The captain would answer, 
' Nonsense ! who ever heard of a white man going 
down into the earth to bury himself?' You killed him, 
you put him there ; don't hide your bad conduct with 
lies!' Then he would bring out his big guns and 
shoot us, and destroy our island in revenge. You are 
making your own grave, Missi, and 3*011 will make ours 
too. Give up this mad freak, for no rain will be found 
by going downwards on Aniwa. Besides all your fish- 
hooks cannot tempt my men again to enter that hole; 
they don't want to be buried with you. Will you not 
give it up now ?" 

I said all that I could to quiet his fears, explained to 
them that this falling in had happened by my neglect 
of precautions, and finally made known that by the 
help of my God, even without all other help, I meant 
to persevere. 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 507 

Steeping my poor brains over the problem, I became 
an extemporized engineer. Two trees were searched 
for, with branches on opposite sides, capable of sus- 
taining a cross-tree betwixt them. I sank them on 
each side firmly into the ground, passed the beam across 
them over the centre of the shaft, fastened thereon a 
rude home-made pulley and block, passed a rope over 
the wheel, and swung my largest bucket to the end of 
it. Thus equipped, I began once more sinking away at 
the well, but at so wide an angle that the sides might 
not again fall in. Not a native, however, would enter 
that hole, and I had to pick and dig away till I was 
utterly exhausted. 

But a teacher, in whom I had confidence, took charge 
above, managing to hire them with axes, knives, &c., 
to seize the end of the rope and walk along the ground, 
pulling it till the bucket rose to the surface, and then 
he himself swung it aside, emptied it, and lowered it- 
down again. I rang a little bell which I had with me, 
when the bucket was loaded, and that was the signal 
for my brave helpers to pull the rope. And thus I 
toiled on from day to day, my heart almost sinking 
sometimes with the sinking of the well, till we reached 
a depth of about thirty feet. And the phrase " living 
water," " living water," kept chiming through my soul 
like music from God, as I dug and hammered away ! 

At this depth the earth and coral began to be soaked 
with damp. I felt that we were nearing water. My 
soul had a faith that God would open a spring for us; 
but side by side with this faith was a strange terror 
that the water would be salt. So perplexing and mixed 
are even the highest experiences of the soul ; the rose- 
flower of a perfect faith, set around and around with 
prickly thorns. One evening I said to the old chief: — 

" I think that Jehovah God will give us water to- 
morrow from that hole !" 

"The chief said, "No, Missi j you will never see 



508 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

rain coming up from the earth on tnis island. ■ We won- 
der what is to be the end of this mad work of yours. 
We expect daily, if you reach water, to see you drop 
into the sea, and the sharks will eat you ! That will be 
the end of it, death to you, and danger to us all." 

I still answered, " Come to-morrow. I hope and be- 
lieve that Jehovah God will send you the rain-water up 
through the earth." At the moment I knew I was 
risking much, and probably incurring sorrowful conse- 
quences, had no water been given ; but I had faith that 
the Lord was leading me on, and I knew that I sought 
his glory, not my own. 

Next morning I went down again at daybreak and 
sank a narrow hole in the centre about two feet deep. 
The perspiration broke over me with uncontrollable 
excitement, and I trembled in every limb when the 
water rushed up and began to fill the hole. Muddy 
though it was, I eagerly tasted it, and the little " tinny" 
dropped from my hand with sheer joy, and I almost fell 
upon my knees in that muddy bottom to praise the 
Lord. It was water ! It was fresh water ! It was living 
water from Jehovah's well ! True, it was a little brack- 
ish, but nothing to speak of, and no spring in the des- 
ert, cooling the parched lips of a fevered pilgrim, ever 
appeared more worthy of being called a Well of God 
than did that water to me. 

The chiefs had assembled with their men near by. 
They waited on in eager expectancy. It was a rehearsal, 
in a small way, of the Israelites coming around, while 
Moses struck the rock and called for water. By-and- 
bye, when I had praised the Lord, and my excitement 
was a little calmed, the mud being also greatly settled, 
I tilled a jug, which I had taken down empty in the 
sight of them all, and. ascending to the top called for 
them to come and see the rain which Jehovah God had 
given us through the well. They closed around me in 
haste, and gazed on it in superstitious fear. The old 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 509 

chief shook it to see if it would spill, and then touched 
it to see if it felt like water. At last he tasted it, and 
rolling it in his mouth with joy for a moment, he swal- 
lowed it, and shouted, " Rain, rain, yes, it is rain ! But 
how did you get it ?" 

I repeated, " Jehovah, my God, gave it out of his 
own earth in answer to our labors and prayers. Go 
and see it springing up for yourselves." 

Now, though every man there could climb the high- 
est tree as swiftly and as fearlessly as a squirrel or an 
opossum, not one of them had courage to walk to the 
side and gaze down into that well. To them this was 
miraculous. But they were not without a resource 
that met the emergency. They agreed to take firm 
hold of each other by the hand, to place themselves in 
a long line, the foremost man to lean cautiously forward, 
gaze into the well, and then pass to the rear, and so 
on till all had seen "Jehovah's rain" far below. It 
was somewhat comical, yet far more pathetic, to stand 
by and watch their faces, as man after man peered 
down into the mystery, and then looked up at me in 
blank bewilderment. When all had seen it with their 
own very eyes, and were " weak w T ith wonder," the 
old chief exclaimed — 

" Missi, wonderful, wonderful is the work of your 
Jehovah God! No godofAniwa ever helped us in 
this way. But, Missi," continued he, after a pause 
that looked like silent worship, " will it always rain 
up through the earth ? or will it come and go like the 
rain from the clouds ?" 

I told them .that I believed it would always continue 
there for our use, as a good gift from Jehovah. 

" Well, but Missi," replied the Chief, some glimmer- 
ing of self-interest beginning to strike his brain, " will 
you or vour family drink it all, or shall we also have 
some ?" 

" You and all your people," I answered, " and all 



510 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

the people of the island may come and drink and carry 
away as much of it as you wish. I believe there will 
always be plenty for us all, and the more of it we can 
use the fresher it will be. That is the way with many 
of our Jehovah's best gifts to men, and for it and for 
all we praise his name." 

" Then, Missi," said the Chief, " it will be our water, 
and we may all use it as our very own ?" 

" Yes," I answered, " whenever you wish it, and as 
much as you need, both here and at your own houses, 
as far as it can possibly be made to go." 

The Chief looked at me eagerly, fully convinced at 
length that the well contained a treasure, and exclaim- 
ed, " Missi, what can we do to help you now?" 

Oh, how like is human nature all the world over ! 
When one toils and struggles, when help is needed 
which many around could easily give, and be the bet- 
ter, not the worse, for giving it, they look on in silence, 
or bless you with ungenerous criticism, or ban you 
with malicious judgment, But let them get some peep 
of personal advantage by helping you, or even of the 
empty bubble of praise for offering it, and how they 
rush to your aid ! 

But I was thankful to accept of the Chiefs assistance, 
though rather late in the day, and I said — 

"You have seen it fall in once already. If it falls 
again, it will conceal the rain from below which our 
God has given us. In order to preserve it for us and 
for our children in all time, we must build it round 
with great coral blocks from the bottom to the very 
top. I will now clear it out, and prepare the founda- 
tion for this wall of coral. Let every man and woman 
carry from the shore the largest blocks they can bring. 
It is well worth all the toils thus to preserve our great 
Jehovah's gift," 

Scarcely were my words repeated, when they rushed 
to the shore, with shoutings and songs of gladness; and 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 511 

soon every one was seen struggling under the biggest 
block of coral with which he dared to tackle. There 
lay their limestone rocks, broken up by the hurricanes, 
and rolled ashore in the arms of mighty billows, and 
in an incredibly short time scores of them were tum- 
bled down for my use at the mouth of the well. Hav- 
ing prepared a foundation, I made ready a sort of box, 
to which every block was firmly tied, and then let 
down to me by the pulley — a native teacher, a faithful 
fellow, cautiously guiding it. I received and placed 
each stone in its position, doing my poor best to wedge 
them one against the other, building circularly, and 
cutting them to the needed shape with my American 
axe. The wall is about three feet thick, and the ma- 
sonry may be guaranteed to stand till the coral itself 
decays. I wrought incessantly for fear of any further 
collapse, till I had it raised about twenty feet ; and 
now, feeling secure, and my hands being dreadfully 
cut up, I intimated that I would rest a week or two, 
and finish the building then. But the Chief advanced 
and said — 

" Misbi,you have been strong to work. Your strength 
has fled. But here rest beside us; and just point out 
where each block is to be laid. We will lay them 
there, we will build them solidly behind like you. 
And no man will sleep till it is done." 

With all their will and heart they started on the 
job ; some carrying, some cutting and squaring the 
blocks, till the wall rose like magic, and a row of the 
hughest blocks laid round the top, bound all together, 
and formed the mouth of the well. Women, boys and 
all wished to have a hand in building it, and it remains 
to this day, a solid wall of masonry, the circle being 
thirty-four feet deep, eight feet wide at the top, and six 
at the bottom. I floored it over with wood above all, and 
fixed the windlass and bucket, and there it stands as 
one of the greatest material blessings which the Lord 



512 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

has given to Auiwa. It rises and falls with the tide, 
though a third of a mile distant from the sea; and 
when, after using it, we tasted the pure, fresh water on 
board the Day spring, it seemed so insipid that I had to 
slip a little salt into my tea along with the sugar before 
I could enjoy it. All visitors are taken to see the well, 
as one of the wonders of Aniwa; and an Elder of the 
Church said to me lately — 

" But for that water, during the last two years of 
drought we would all have been dead !" 

Very strangely, though the natives themselves have 
since tried to sink six or seven wells in the most likely 
places near their different villages, they have either 
come to coral rock which they could not pierce, or 
found only water that was salt. And they say amongst 
themselves — 

" Missi not only used pick and spade, but he prayed 
and cried to his God. We have learned to dig but not 
how to pray, and therefore Jehovah will not give us 
the rain from below!" 

The well was now finished. The place was neatly 
fenced in. And the old Chief said — 

"Missi, now that this is the water for all, we must 
take care and keep it pure." 

I was so thankful that all were to use it. Had we 
alone drawn water therefrom, they could so easily 
have poisoned it, as they do the fish-pools, in caverns 
among the rocks by the shore with their nuts and run- 
ners, and killed us all. But there was no fear, if the}* 
themselves were to use it daily. The Chief continued, 

" Missi, I think I could help you next Sabbath. 
Will you let me preach a sermon on the well?" 

"Yes," I at once replied, "if you will try to bring 
all the people to hear you." 

" Missi, I will try," he eagerly promised. The news 
spread like wildfire that the Chief Xamakei was to be 
the missionary on the next day for the Worship, and 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 513 

the people, urged each other to come and hear what 
he had to say. 

Sabbath came round. Aniwa assembled in what 
was for that island a great crowd. Namakei appeared 
dressed in skirt and kilt. He was so excited, and flour- 
ished his tomahawk about at such a rate, that it was 
rather lively work to be near him. I conducted short 
open devotions, and then called upon Namakei. He 
rose at once, with eye flashing wildly, and his limbs 
twitching with emotion. He spoke to the following 
effect, swinging his tomahawk to enforce every elo- 
quent gesticulation : 

" Friends of Namakei, men and women and children 
of Aniwa, listen to my words ! Since Missi came here 
he has talked many strange things we could not under- 
stand — things all too wonderful ; and we said regarding 
many of them that they must be lies. White people 
might believe such nonsense, but we said that the 
black fellow knew better than to receive it. But of 
all his wonderful stories, we thought the strangest was 
about sinking down through the earth to get rain. 
Then we said to each other, ' The man's head is turned, 
he's gone mad.' But the Missi prayed on and wrought 
on, telling us that Jehovah God heard and saw, and 
that his God would give him rain. Was he mad? 
Has he not got the rain deep down in the earth ? We 
mocked at him ; but the water was there all the same. 
We have laughed at other things which the Missi told 
us, because we could not see them. But from this 
day I believe that all he tells us about his Jehovah God 
is true. Some days our eyes will see it. For to-day 
we have seen the rain from the earth." 

Then, rising to a climax, first the one foot and then 
the other making the broken coral on the floor fly be- 
hind like a war-horse pawing the ground, he cried with 
great eloquence : — 

"My people, the people of Aniwa, the world is 
33 



514 FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 

turned upside down since the word of Jehovah came 
to this land ! Who ever expected to see rain coming 
up through the earth ? It has always come from the 
clouds ! Wonderful is the work of this Jehovah God. 
No God of Aniw^a ever answered prayers as the Missi 'e 
God has done. Friends of Namakei, all the powers of 
the world could not have forced us to believe that rain 
could be given from the depths of the earth, if w T e had 
not seen it with our eyes, felt it and tasted it as we here 
do. Now, by the help of Jehovah God the Missi 
brought that invisible rain to view, which we never 
before heard of or saw, and — (beating his hand on his 
breast, he exclaimed) : — 

" Something here in my heart tells me that the Je- 
hovah God does exist, the Invisible One, whom we 
never heard of nor saw till the Missi brought Him to * 
our knowledge. The coral has been removed, the land 
has been cleared away, and lo ! the water rises. Invis- 
ible till this day, yet all the same it was there, though 
our eyes were too weak. So I, your chief, do now 
firmly believe that when I die, when the bits of coral 
and the heaps of dust are removed which now blind 
my old eyes, I shall then see the Invisible Jehovah God 
with my soul as Missi tells me, not less surely than I 
have seen the rain from the earth below. From this 
day, my people, I must worship the God who has 
opened for us the well, and who fills us with rain from 
below. The Gods of Aniwa cannot hear, cannot help 
us, like the God of Missi. Henceforth I am a follower 
of Jehovah God. Let every man that thinks with me 
no now and fetch the idols of Aniwa, the gods which 
oar fathers feared, and cast them down at Missi's feet. 
Let us burn and bury and destroy these things of wood 
and stone, and let us be taught by the Missi how to 
serve the God who can hear, the Jehovah who gave us 
the well, and who will give us every other blessing, for 
He sent his Son Jesus to die for us and bring us to 



FOOTPRINTS AND WAYMARKS. 515 

heaven. This is what the Missi has been telling us 
every day since he landed on Aniwa. We laughed at 
him, but now we believe him. The Jehovah God has 
sent us rain from the earth. Why should He not also 
send his Son from heaven ? Namakei stands up for 
Jehovah !" 

This address, and the sinking of the well, broke the 
back of heathenism on Aniwa. That very afternoon, 
the old Chief and several of his people brought their 
idols and cast them down at my feet beside the door 
of our house. Oh, the intense excitement of the weeks 
that followed ! Company after company came to the 
spot, loaded with their gods of wood and stone, and 
piled them up in heaps, amid the tears and sobs of 
some, and the shoutings of others, in which was heard 
the oft-repeated word, " Jehovah ! Jehovah !" What 
could be burned we cast into the flames ; others we 
buried in pits twelve or fifteen feet deep; and some few, 
more likely than the rest to feed or awaken supersti- 
tion, we sank far out into the deep sea. Let no hea- 
then eyes ever gaze on them again ! 



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